The LEGO Group aimed to expand their audience, and grow credibility and sales with adults this Valentine’s, by blooming fresh energy into a wilting occasion.

To change adult perceptions, we needed to break out of the toy aisle, and present ourselves as the most unexpected florist. We used an out of home experience to deliver.

We transformed the exterior of The LEGO Store into “Le Florist” the most playful flower shop, showcasing wall-to-wall brick-built blooms. For a limited time, our store front became an ambient experience that captured attention, and generated global buzz through earned content.

To grow credibility with adults, and plant LEGO’s role in the world of gifting, we needed to go big, and chose Valentine’s to shine - a globally treasured gifting occasion, yet one facing a problem, which is where we saw our brand opportunity.

Valentine's Day, once deemed the pinnacle of love and surprise, was losing its spark worldwide. Seen as shallow and predictable, cynicism towards the occasion was growing, and the number of people buying gifts was declining. Notably, in the United Kingdom, one of the core markets for The LEGO Brand, Valentine’s spending reportedly dropped 19% YoY in 2023.

But every great love story has a glimmer of hope, we saw appetite for a Valentine’s refresh. Research revealed that the UK was eager to redefine the holiday, with people looking to ditch gifting cliches for more meaningful gestures and experiences to surprise their loved ones.

This cultural need opened up a clear role for The LEGO Brand and shaped our strategy. We needed to focus our key activation in the UK to capture public attention and leverage

their appetite for something fresh. We would then grow the idea worldwide with engaging social content and local activations, to make it a global Valentine’s refresh.

Like every rose, the LEGO brand has its thorn. While it’s an adored kid’s brand, there’s a widespread unawareness we have captivating products for adults too.

Objective: Grow credibility with adults, and drive sales of the LEGO Botanicals Collection. To shift perceptions, we needed to branch out of the toy aisle and establish ourselves in the world of gifting to adults. We aimed to captivate hearts during Valentine's, delivering a LEGO twist on traditional flowers.

Insight: Gifts are the ultimate love language. Our way to surprise our loved ones and make them feel special, but too often they feel ordinary and predictable, especially during Valentine's.

Our mission: As a brand rooted in creativity, we wanted to inspire everyone to deliver a fresh gift to surprise their loved ones, with botanicals as unique as their connections.

The creative idea: To blossom new life into the occasion, we invited everyone to “Keep It Fresh”

The ambient placement bloomed beyond our goals, and successfully grew relevance with adults:

·Video of the experience garnered 4.2M views on our TikTok alone, and reached 4.6M Impressions on talent paid social (vs 2.2M benchmark)

·Content sprouted across social platforms, with an astounding 1.1 Billion in earned reach!

·Media sentiment was 100% positive, reflecting the widespread love

By playing with the flower category, we earned our place at the top of it, dominating flower searches, without paid search.

·LEGO Roses searches increased +592%

·LEGO flowers was the top searched for Valentines flower in the US, reported by Google Trends

The impact translated into sales, as LEGO Botanicals were proudly chosen to keep Valentine’s fresh:

·Achieved 94% YoY global sales growth during the campaign period

·LEGO roses were the top-selling item in the London store, the week following the activation

·Sold out of roses in key markets due to high demand

We rebuilt The LEGO Store in Battersea London, making it bloom into ‘Le Florist’, the most playful flower shop. Drawing crowds with our wall-to-wall brick-built blooms.

It took 600 + building hours to make the store blossom, with a special build that required more than 125,000 bricks and 1,900 built flowers, which were combined with natural greenery for impact.

Branching out of the toy aisle, our ambient placement reimagined the store by playing with florist conventions. Including awnings, cobbled streets and mosaics. The colourful toy shelves turned into wooden flower crates, store staff became 'florists,' offering gifting advice alongside brick-built accessories. While a nearby LEGO Flower Cart drove traffic to the experience.

The ambient placement was built to delight people beyond the physical store. Content spread across social channels, while partnerships with influencers made it bloom further, inspiring everyone to keep Valentine’s fresh.