BRAND ACTIVATIONS

Lego uses AR to create a friendly trans-Atlantic snowball competition

By our News Team | 2023

Brand leverages tech to bring smiles to the faces of shoppers at its stores in London and New York, while encouraging the concept of ‘play’.

Lego, the famous global toy company, has just unveiled another example of how augmented reality (AR) can be used to create a brand activation that plays out simultaneously in two cities on different continents and across different time zones.

As it looks to get into the holiday spirit in the run-up to Christmas in the cold Northern Hemisphere, the brand is leveraging technology and some good-natured trans-Atlantic competition to bring smiles to the faces of shoppers at its stores in London and New York.

Photo courtesy of Lego Group

The game of ‘Snow Throw’ is a virtual snowball-throwing competition available for anyone to play in the windows of Lego’s 5th Avenue store in New York, as well as its companion outlet in Leicester Square in London.

It enables people from either city to go head-to-head for a digital snowball throwing blitz. The aim is to throw as many digital snowballs as possible in a given timeframe, with the aim of seeing which city can ultimately throw the most.

Trans-Atlantic bragging rights

To keep the spirit of healthy competition alive, a live leaderboard in each store helps everyone to keep score. Trans-Atlantic bragging rights are, after all, a serious matter!

“For our holiday campaign this year we wanted to show how the Lego play experience brings an epic new dimension to transforming festive family moments into something even more extraordinary,” explains Natali Stolovic, Head of Lego Retail.

“What better way to do this than transforming an ordinary family shopping trip into the chance to take part in an epic snowball challenge against fellow shoppers on the other side of the world.”

Lego adds that the activation is meant to encourage families to prioritise play. Snow Throw also ties into the brand’s larger campaign, called ‘Play is Your Superpower’, which was launched in September 2023.

It highlights the importance of play in childhood development. This in the wake of a finding that 70% of parents choose achievement-based activities over playtime for their kids.

You can watch a video about the Snow Throw activation here.

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