For the Love of the Brick: Worldwide Partners Agency Advance Celebrates LEGO Company’s 90th Anniversary

Advance, a Worldwide Partners member since 2018 and one of Denmark’s largest independent creative agencies, has been working with the LEGO Company for nearly 50 years. In fact, the LEGO Company was their first client when the agency opened in 1976. For over five decades, Advance has developed more than 100 global product launches together, contributing to concepting and intellectual property development, campaign strategy,  the creation of global marketing toolboxes,  digital production and content creation.

How It All Started

Advance was originally formed in order to actually work on the LEGO account. The agency from which Advance was born, had been working on LEGO campaigns at the time, but then won the Fisher Price account and needed to split to ensure there was no conflict of interest in the kids toy category. 

Initially, nearly all of the work was print-oriented - from in-store materials, box inserted materials, to packaging design and the LEGO Brand product catalogue.  Gradually, Advance started taking on more – doing different types of design and advertising, and handling more product lines, such as LEGO Technic.

From Concepting to Communicating

In the ‘90s, Advance started to do a great deal more TV commercials for different product lines - LEGO City, LEGO Castle, LEGO Technic etc.  These were international productions shot in locations such as California, using new technologies and crossing different LEGO lines in the same spots.

It was also in the ‘90s that Advance became more involved in the conceptual development of new LEGO products. “We found we could create better, ‘baked in’ communication when we had been involved in developing the products as well,” says Jeppe Fonnesbæk. “For example, making the packaging part of the story, or connecting product features to the storyline and campaign.”

Advance helped with the concepting of LEGO Slizers and LEGO RoboRiders, lower-priced items that allowed kids to go out and purchase with their own pocket money.

As the century came to a close, Advance was involved with product launches targeted both younger and older kids. They worked on the first launch of LEGO Star Wars, which remains one of the most popular product lines, as well as coming up with the idea for LEGO BIONICLE, an original intellectual property.

LEGO BIONICLE, set in a unique visual universe, revolved around an archetypal battle between good and evil. It was a bold product line for LEGO, but one that paid off as the property became a much-loved bestseller over its ten-year lifespan. It also won Advance the Advertising Effectiveness Award in both Denmark and the USA.

Playing with New Audiences

The early 2000s was a critical time for the LEGO brand. Financial challenges coupled with advancements in technology threatened the longevity of the beloved toy brand. They needed to expand beyond the traditional brick, growing their audience base and finding new ways to pique the interest of tech-savvy kids.

Advance helped them do that with the creation of LEGO Friends, the first foray into engaging a ‘girls’ audience. Leveraging more than five years of extensive research with some 4,500 girls and their moms, Advance helped develop the universe and story for this new line and an integrated 360-degree global marketing campaign. LEGO Friends challenged the dynamics of what was then called the ‘girls’ toy category’, placing the LEGO Company at the forefront of this evolving market, and leading to additional themes for kids with different passions including LEGO Disney and LEGO DC Super Hero Girls.

Making a Play for Gaming

In the late 2000s, the LEGO Company tried to break into the increasingly popular gaming market. They launched LEGO Universe, a large multiplayer online game. Advance helped with testing and handled the communications for this project. Despite everyone’s best efforts, however, it wasn’t a huge success for various product and gaming reasons. LEGO decided to back off online gaming and refocus on the physical products that made them so successful for so long.

Big Kids Love Play Too

Today, Advance is heavily involved in adult communication, in addition to reaching kids. Adults are now a big portion of LEGO’s audience – people that loved building and playing with LEGO bricks in their childhood are now using this passion to bring their families together or enjoy a nostalgic moment by themselves. “Having a quiet moment for yourself where you’re building something you have a passion about with LEGO bricks is a really satisfying and valuable experience for many.” says Jeppe. 

LEGO Stranger Things, LEGO Mustang, the International Space Station, LEGO The Office and LEGO Atari are examples of products for adults that Advance has helped the LEGO Company launch. “These are very fun products to do campaigns for, as they are something you yourself can really relate to, and where creatively we can do something different.”

Building Blocks to a Great Partnership

Advance owes their longevity with LEGO to two key things: a fundamental understanding of and an enduring passion for the brand.

After working with LEGO for nearly half a century, Advance has an in-depth knowledge of how the brand works, how it thinks, its business, and the systems and processes the LEGO Company uses. “We have built up a lot of experience in our team by working with them for so many years. We know the brand, its target groups, legal challenges, processes, etc. inside out, which makes us easy to work with…. AND most importantly, we deliver strong results.” adds Jeppe.

The pride for the brand and its mission can be felt throughout both the LEGO Company and the Advance team. “The love for the brand is quite staggering,” says Jeppe. “We are on a mission to remind people to keep playing and to strengthen kids' creativity and imagination.”

For more details on Advance’s work with LEGO over the past 46 years, visit their site: https://www.advance.dk/cases/lego/.