Last night during the broadcast of ITV's 'Dancing On Ice', viewers might have been more than a little surprised to see a brace of their favourite adverts reimagined as stop-motion Lego animations. This marks the first time in history that an entire ad break has been reconstructed entirely out of Lego and as such, the scheme drew a significant amount of traffic to ITV, as well as a great deal of excitement through social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
The advertisements were dreamed up by the 'PHD' media and communications agency in a partnership with both Warner Bros and ITV's content agency 'Drum' to promote the upcoming 'Lego Movie', a film that has opened to rave reviews and sold-out screenings across the pond and will be released on our shore this week on Valentine's Day (February 14th).
Brands spoofed by ITN Productions and Bricksports (who have made a name for themselves by crafting Lego versions of popular sports and entertainment events) included the British Heart Foundation (with the now classic Vinnie Jones featuring “Staying alive” ad), Confused.com and Premier Inn (with a Lego Lenny Henry included for good measure), as well as a TV spot for the movie itself. David Wilding, the head of planning at PHD has said “To support the launch of a movie in which the whole world is made of Lego, we came up with the idea of transporting ITV viewers there”, and it would appear this has paid dividends.
The movie is a satirical family adventure with Parks and Recreation star Chris Pratt in the lead role as a Lego figure who accidentally becomes embroiled in a global conspiracy concerning a fabled 'Master Builder'. The ads were bolstered by quick-shots of some of the movies most notable characters and it's being reported that the brands featured, paid for their ads to be given the Lego treatment out of their own pockets.
This is of course not the first instance of a 'themed' ad break (keen viewers might remember channel 4 replacing their adverts with French counterparts during broadcast of 'The Returned' last year for example) but it has proven to be the most popular thus far. Warner Bros vice-president and director of marketing Alex Lewis says it best, “The Lego ad break in an inspired and innovative media first, that captures the very essence of the Lego Movie”.
Visit the official PHD website HERE
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance copywriter from Kidderminster in the UK who will NEVER grow out of Lego.
