Lego: SMART Play – World Media Group

Challenge

Today’s kids demand more dynamic, tech‑enabled ways to play. For the LEGO Group, this created a pivotal challenge: how to launch its biggest innovation since the Minifigure in 1978.

Enter LEGO® SMART Play™, a fully responsive system generating sound, light and movement with no screens and no AI, while being taken seriously alongside tech giants.

The opportunity was CES 2026, the world’s largest technology trade show. But standing out at CES required more than a booth. It required proof and a public, visceral demonstration that the LEGO Group belongs in the technology conversation.

Strategic Solution

Objectives:

Overachieve on brand awareness of the new LEGO SMART Play system.
Shift perception of the LEGO brand as a credible player in technology.
Drive pre‑launch demand for LEGO Star Wars™ SMART Play sets.

Brand:

Entered by:

The approach:

Our creative insight was deceptively simple: belief is created through experience, not explanation. In a world saturated with technology claims, the most powerful statement the LEGO Group could make was to let play speak for itself.

Rather than explaining LEGO® SMART Play’s capabilities through conventional advertising, we would demonstrate them publicly, physically, and at a scale impossible to ignore.

The role of the branded event:

The branded event wasn’t a supporting tactic, it was the strategy itself. We identified The Las Vegas Sphere, the world’s largest LED screen, as the only canvas that could match the ambition: turning outdoor media from a place you advertise on into something you play with.

In collaboration with LucasFilm, Disney and Sphere Studios, we developed a first‑of‑its‑kind interactive experience: transforming the Sphere’s Exosphere into a brick‑built LEGO Star Wars™ Death Star, while a life‑size LEGO X‑Wing cockpit on the ground let players physically control a real‑time trench run across the world’s largest screen.

The familiar Star Wars universe gave audiences instant recognition; the scale of execution made it unforgettable.

Critically, amplification was designed from the start, not layered on afterwards. The media strategy focused on influence over mass reach: concentrate outdoor investment in a single, spectacular event, create a moment with inherent cultural momentum, and then carry it globally through earned and paid media working together.

Content Solution

Turning the Sphere into a playable experience:

The content wasn’t created about the product, it was the product in action. In partnership with Sphere Studios, we developed a bespoke suite of creative assets and experiences, each designed to demonstrate LEGO ® SMART Play’s core promise: technology that makes physical play come alive.

What we created:

Exosphere creative assets (including a :60s hero and :30s teaser) wrapping the Sphere in a fully rendered brick‑built LEGO ® Death Star

A fabricated life‑size LEGO Star Wars X‑Wing cockpit, positioned on the Sphere campus as the physical game controller.

A bespoke interactive game with multiple creative variations, enabling 120 players to pilot the trench run live across the 366‑ft Exosphere – the first interactive game ever played on the Exosphere.

The smart brick’s integration into the Sphere’s Exosphere Moon was another technical first.

Custom social capture and behind‑the‑scenes content for global amplification.

Innovation through partnership:

This activation delivered multiple world firsts for the Sphere: the first Exosphere technical innovation of its kind, the first event activation, and the first brand integration into the Moon. Sphere Studios led concept, design and production, collaborating directly with LEGO on social content that drove significantly higher engagement.

It was a content system, not a single stunt.

From the hero event, we built a layered content architecture designed to travel across the globe. Tech Videos (15s, 30s, 60s) dramatised LEGO ® SMART Play’s capabilities; Kids Demo videos showed real children playing; an Evolution of Play film told the innovation story for adult fans; and Sphere‑specific social edits captured the spectacle for sharing.

This wasn’t a stunt followed by a media plan. Paid media was designed from the start to make the experience visible, shareable and culturally meaningful ensuring every piece of content had a clear role in carrying the Sphere moment beyond Las Vegas and into the feeds, screens and conversations of families worldwide.

The result was content that didn’t need to claim innovation. It showed it happening in real time.

Media/Content Amplification Solution

Designed to travel from day one.

The media strategy was built around a single principle: concentrate the spectacle, then let it radiate. The Sphere was our creative epicentre; a singular, high‑authority outdoor moment designed to generate cultural momentum that paid and earned media could carry globally.

Sequencing the story:

We deliberately sequenced the campaign in three phases.

Phase 1 Spectacle (January 7th): The Sphere activation itself, generating 120+ original articles across 21 countries and 820M+ earned impressions overnight. This wasn’t hoped‑for virality, it was engineered. The activation’s inherent shareability (a LEGO Death Star on the world’s largest screen, controlled by a life‑size LEGO X‑Wing) was the media strategy’s first act.
Phase 2 Amplification (January 12th onwards): Paid social extended the moment internationally through video‑led formats across social and digital platforms, targeting families and adult fans of the LEGO brand. Content was phased from hero Tech Videos into Kids Demo and creator layers as awareness built, with weekly optimisation shifting investment toward the highest‑performing formats.
Phase 3 Sustain (through late February): Creator and influencer content kept the story alive, with Sphere‑focused videos proving 11% more likely to be completed than the average influencer asset. Investment in influencer formats increased 44% week‑on‑week as performance confirmed their effectiveness.

Why it worked as amplification, not just distribution.

Paid media wasn’t bolted on rather it was integral to the idea’s design. Every format was derived from the Sphere experience itself: Tech Videos dramatised the technology; Sphere social edits captured the spectacle; creator content provided authentic reaction. This meant the paid layer felt like a natural extension of the cultural moment, not a separate campaign.

The numbers confirmed the approach: across platforms, the campaign delivered 617.5M paid impressions and 132M completed video views. Tech Videos alone generated 49% of all social impressions at a CPM 3% below average, while Kids Demo content proved 30% more cost‑efficient than platform benchmarks – evidence that content born from a genuine experience outperforms conventional advertising assets.

Earned and paid, working as one system…

…the Sphere activation generated the cultural ignition; paid media carried the flame internationally. Neither would have delivered the same result alone. This was amplification in the truest sense, making the experience visible, shareable and culturally meaningful at global scale.

Branded Event | Winner🏅

"The judges described this as a masterclass in marketing activation, one that should be taught in every business school. It was built on a clear understanding of the brand’s audience and mission. An event that lived well beyond its initial execution, with media environment, message and creative working together perfectly."

– Judges comments.

Reach across global news and broadcast. There were 120 articles in 21 countries.

Paid impressions delivered globally, with 132m completed video views.

Social impressions from sphere-owned content, with 555,690 engagements.

Results

The LEGO Smart Play Sphere activation delivered transformational results across awareness, perception, engagement and commercial demand.

Reach and visibility:

+800M estimated total reach across news and broadcast channels.
+22.4M social impressions from Sphere‑owned content, with 233 posts generating 555,690 engagements.
+534K physical impressions in Las Vegas on the night.
+617.5M paid impressions delivered globally, with 132M completed video views.

Brand perception shift (Kantar Brand Lift Study) – among those exposed to the campaign:

86% likely to consider using LEGO brand (+27pts vs. control).
88% likely to recommend to friend/family (+28pts vs. control).
97% view LEGO brand as an industry leader (+13pts vs. control).

Cultural impact (Verified via Sphere reporting):

Top 1% most viewed 2025 Instagram video on the LEGO channel.
2× more engagements than LEGO brand 2025 cross‑channel baseline.
+128% lift in video response rate vs. 2025 average.
UGC generated 206 posts, 6.69M impressions and 200K+ engagements organically.

Commercial impact:

LEGO Star Wars SMART Play sets achieved 350% bigger pre‑order queues, one of the largest in LEGO Group history.
Post‑launch, sets showed high consumer NPS.
Recognised with Best of Show by The Verge and eight CES Innovation Awards.

The branded event didn’t just launch a product, it repositioned LEGO as a credible force in technology, proving that outdoor media can be the idea itself, not just where you place it.