Like LEGO building, Minecraft inspires its players to build their own world. But when things get destroyed in Minecraft, there are no instructions or set of bricks to rebuild from. Their creations are gone forever. Online bullies take advantage of this and destroy other Minecraft players’ creations that took months or even years to build. The Minecraft community calls this destructive phenomenon “griefing.” As the original building toy, the LEGO brand is the only one that could do something about this, because you can always build back. To launch the next LEGO Mincecraft sets, we wanted to truly connect with this community and help fight against online bullying.

Build Back is an anti-bullying campaign that helped Minecraft players rebuild their destroyed in-game creations in real life with LEGO bricks. We found popular gamers online that were saddened by their destroyed Minecraft creations. Then we analyzed their old photos and videos across the internet to recreate their lost builds with LEGO bricks, piece by piece. We surprised them, and they shared their LEGO models with the world, encouraging others to build back, too. With some social listening, we also surprised devastated Minecraft players on Twitter and sent them the latest LEGO Minecraft sets so they could get building again.

Online bullying happens everywhere, even in a creative game about building. In Minecraft, it takes the form of "griefing," where players destroy other players' creations forever. Unlike other games, Minecraft destruction is permanent. As the original champions of creative free-building, we wanted to help these players "build back" against bullying. We discovered its harmful effects on Minecraft players all over the internet, with entire YouTube videos dedicated to it. So, we turned to “griefed” players’ social posts and YouTube videos as blueprints to replicate their builds with LEGO bricks. With user-generated YouTube reaction videos and the LEGO brand’s surprise & delight tweets, we were able to spark a social conversation right where our fans are—while also providing a positive, creative way to fight online bullying.

We found Minecraft gamers posting online about their game worlds getting destroyed. Then we searched through their social platforms to find traces of their creations pre-destruction. Working with LEGO Master Builders, we spent months designing custom 3D LEGO prototypes and rebuilding with LEGO bricks, down to the smallest of details—even their couches and tables. In February 2019 we surprised the gamers with their custom LEGO sets. They were so moved, they all uploaded emotional videos and posts, rallying others to build back, too. Griefing isn’t going away anytime soon, so we continue to find and surprise devastated fans on Twitter with the latest LEGO Minecraft sets.

In such a tight-knit online community for a game with struggling sales, our campaign has made a huge impact with no paid media behind it. The YouTube videos alone racked up 600,000+ organic views, with over 12,000 encouraging comments and 30,000 likes and counting. Even our like-to-dislike ratio has proved there’s still some good on the internet and our positive impact. Out of hundreds of thousands of viewers, only 2% disliked (and they’re probably the bullies).