This story originally appeared on Contagious I/O, our customisable research platform featuring the world’s most innovative, creative and effective campaigns and marketing ideas Toy brand turns Berlin bus shelters into Instagram-powered photo booths To promote its Star Wars toys, LEGO joined forces with outdoor ad specialists JCDecaux to turn two Berlin bus stops into Instagram-powered photo printers. The first, at Heckescher Markt, featured posters of LEGO versions of Star Wars characters from the dark side of the force sitting on a bus with empty seats beside them. The second, at Alexanderplatz, was dedicated to characters from the light side. Both shelters asked passers-by: ‘Which side will you choose?’, encouraging them to take a selfie to post on Instagram. If people uploaded their picture to Instagram with their shelter’s corresponding hashtag: #aufderdunklenseite (#onthedarkside) or #aufderhellenseite (#onthelightside), they received a copy of the photograph printed directly from the souped-up shelter.
All participants were entered into a competition to win a trip to London or a LEGO Star Wars gift bag. Tangible takeaway / Rather than creating an attractive location for a selfie and hoping it would lead to social media sharing, LEGO took it a step further and offered a printed version of the photo in exchange for the use of their hashtag. This seems a fair value exchange: fans receive a personalised souvenir while the brand benefits from social media buzz. Add in the competition for a holiday or gift bag, and the enjoyment generally surrounding Star Wars or any sort of selfie and there’s a lot of incentives to drive participation. Superfan focus / The Star Wars fan base is a passionate one so harnessing that interest and channelling it into LEGO’s toy versions lets the brand take advantage of the excitement surrounding the much-anticipated new film Star Wars: Episode VII – the Force Awakens. And asking the question ‘which side will you choose?’ engages visitors further by making them think about where their allegiances lie – especially as the bus shelters are within walking distance of each other.
Lucrative partnership / This year LEGO’s first-half revenue was up by nearly 20% and its profit jumped by more than 30% compared with a year ago, outperforming both its biggest competitors Mattel and Hasbro. While its Star Wars line was not solely responsible for this profit boost, it was one of the most popular lines and it’s expected that popularity will only grow with the release of the new film and the inevitable Christmas rush. But the family-owned toy company can’t keep up with the hype. ‘We will not be able to deliver all of the orders coming from customers in the remainder of the year,’ LEGO spokesperson Roar Trangbaek told Reuters last month. ‘It is really extraordinary and it has exceeded both ours and our customers’ forecasts.’ Could there be such a thing as too much publicity? This story originally appeared on Contagious I/O. Contagious I/O is our bespoke trends, inspiration, insight and analysis service, providing daily innovative marketing intelligence across a comprehensive range of sectors to brands and agencies across the world.
Unleash the power of experiential for your brand. Tap into this new world of brand experience by building brand love through magical, meaningful and memorable experiences. Instructions For LEGO 3719 Bus Stop with Maximilian Mouse These are the instructions for building the LEGO Fabuland Bus Stop with Maximilian Mouse that was released in 1987. Sorry, no PDF Instructions available for download.See what the Friends are up to in in the latest Friends webisodes!Lego Star Wars ChristmasStormtrooper ChristmasStar Wars LegoChristmas LegosChristmas TrooperFreak ChristmasFitness ChristmasChristmas MoodChristmas GoogleForwardAh, Christmas 2014 is in the air and I have vowed to never buy any more legos, or ask Santa for any, until the ones on the floor are all picked up! All Photos: Transport for London This year, this beautiful year that is 2014, marks the 200th anniversary of mass transit in London. To celebrate, the city’s Transport for London management has declared this the “Year of the Bus,” as the city’s been highlighting various bits of bus culture over the course of the past six months.
Its latest showcase has, as you can guess, really caught our attention: this bus stop you're looking at is comprised entirely of LEGO pieces. 100,000 of them, actually. Every component of the bus stop on London’s famous Regent Street is made from LEGO, including the awesome plastic windows. Thankfully, the designers put smooth caps on the bench to prevent, um, discomfort. They’ve even managed to include stops, schedules, and times with all the pixellated legibility of a 1990s stadium scoreboard. The only things not made from plastic bricks are the bus route maps, which were glued in place. The stop is only temporary, of course, but until some hooligans knock it down with a cricket bat, it’s a fully functioning bus stop. Aaron Miller is the Rides editor for Supercompressor. The last time he rode a bus in London, he was still playing with LEGOs every day. Follow him to blocky designs on Twitter.Starwars SelfieLego SelfieSelfie XdLego StarwarsVader StormtrooperStormtroopersDarth VaderSelfiestick EverrrrrrSelfie EverrrrrrForwardSIR LUKE SKYWALKERS ON BOARD!....
OK BUT FIRST LET US TAKE A SELFIEIt’s rather overwhelming walking around the Lego booth at the New York Toy Fair. Not only are there hundreds of new sets but they span brands, ages and complexity. From Duplo to Creator sets to classic Lego City and even the large Lego Technic products, it's an impressive range. This year Lego Boost extends this further with a sensor driven remote controlled robot that can be built in six different ways and offers new brick-based interactions. Lego's own Friends, Elves, Nexo Knights and City lines are all extended in 2017. Big on children's radar will be the franchise and movie tie-in sets. Coming for 2017 there are sets for Pirates of the Caribbean , Cars, The Lego Batman Movie, Minecraft , Star Wars, Frozen , Moana and Cinderella. There are also new sets coming for the Ninjago feature film. To help you decide which of these to get for your family, here’s my top picks from each of the lines at the show. Two sets stood out here for the quality of design and great looking minifigures.
Ariel and the Magical Spell (41145) is a 222 pieces aimed at children 5 and over. It provides turquoise, teal and green bricks with mermaid characters and a underwater theme. It will be available in August Then there is Cinderella’s Enchanted Evening (41146) that is made of 350 pieces to create a magical horse and carriage. It comes with Cinderella minifigure and a miniature castle build. It will be available in August. While the Star Wars: The Last Jedi sets are, for understandable reasons, not revealed yet there was still plenty of Star Wars bricky goodness at Toy Fair. Bit of a surprise pick for me, but the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar (75184) was really impressive this year. Not only the range of figures and mini-builds behind each window but the inclusion of a few new Lego pieces I’d not seen before. This will be out in September — which I know is early for Christmas but there you go. A lot of new Minecraft Lego coming this year. The Waterfall Base (21134) stands out as one of the larger sets at 729 pieces.
This is a nice set that offers a range of terrain and characters, all drawn from the video game. Plenty of zombies and other mobs are included as well. This will be available in March. The Ocean Monument (21136) is another large set with1122 pieces. It offers a load of interactive elements and characters from the game, including a Lego version of the Elder Guardian, Guardian and Squid mob as well as Steve and Alex minifigures. Top pick here is the Coast Guard Headquarters (60167) which is a 792 piece build for anyone aged 6 or older. It offers a nice base building, helicopter and launch. The theme is in white and orange of sea-rescue and the level of design is excellent. It’s available in August. Also worth a mention is the Bus Station (60154) which updates the set with a 337 piece build of building and vehicles. A lot to choose from this year but for me the 6x6 All Terrain Tow Truck (42070) stole the show. It’s a massive 1862 pieces and does need some skill to assemble — an age of at least 11 is suggested.
Once complete the build is stunning with attention to detail and realistic moving parts. A nice touch is the Teddy Bear mascot perched on the front grill. This will be out in August. There are some of these Lego Batman Movie sets out already but we hadn’t seen the fantastic Ultimate Batmobile (70917) before. This is another big build, weighing in at 1456 pieces. It comes as three separate vehicles than can combine to make one super Batmobile. Well executed and closely matched to the film. This will be available in June. While there are a few contenders for top set here, in the end I had to go for the Knighton Castle (70357) and its 1426 pieces. Some new pieces included here, but it’s the impressive overall design I really love. All the favourite Nexo characters are included along with some new shields to unlock in-game content. This is available in August. New this year in the Elves universe are the Goblins. This is a nice addition as it not only extends the line but opens new routes for imaginative play.
Accordingly, my top set here is the Breakout from the Goblin King’s Fortress (41188). It’s 695 pieces and includes an impressive castle with a variety of interactive ways to escape and capture elves. This is another August set. There are a lot of Lego Friends sets coming up this year. In terms of August releases shown at Toy Fair this had the most. Top of the list for me is the Heartlake Hospital (41318) which comprises of 871 to make not only a fully operational medical facility but loads of minifigures and bespoke equipment bricks. There is a high level of detail that looks like it will be great fun to build and play with once complete. This is another of the August Lego sets. This is a new range from Lego and offers an interactive building kit with app and sensors all provided. While this sort of thing has been tried before, the level of depth and complexity you can achieve with the set (17101) is really impressive. From an interactive robot to a cat or even a working guitar, Lego Boost was great fun to see demoed and looks like it will do very well.