If you were watching on Oscar night, you saw one…and another…and then all of a sudden they were everywhere: LEGO models of the Oscar trophy. Meryl Streep had one, Bradley Cooper…even Clint Eastwood!
And then there’s the picture above. Oprah — The Big “O”— two time topper of Forbes’ most powerful celebrity list, with a smile so genuine and so delighted it’s hard to imagine that even a seasoned pro like her could conjure it merely for the sake of the cameras.
Our guess is that the idea was born when The LEGO movie didn’t receive an Oscar nomination probably very shortly after (LEGO Movie Director) Phil Lord tweeted that he would build his own. LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya crafted the beautiful recreations — surely no small part of Oprah (and everyone else’s) delight was the fact that the prank was truly funny — but it also helps that the statuettes were works of art in their own right.
LEGO Turned Their Oscar Snub Into Pure Gold
If you’re a CMO or brand marketer, you had to be saying to yourself: “Wow…how did they do that?” If you aren’t either one of those, you may not have even noticed that, basically, LEGO pulled off the promotional coup of the century. Folks, that’s OPRAH up there! That’s the real Meryl Streep!!
Can you imagine Oprah (or Meryl??) posing for that picture with a can of Coke? Flashing the keys to a new Cadillac? Sporting a new Samsung smart-watch?
In two words: no way. In one: never.
LEGO is in Rare Air
Evidently, making the world’s most powerful celebrity smile is the kind of thing you can do when you’rethe world’s most powerful brand. It’s also a move you have the guts to make when you’ve doubled the net income of your company in a few short years, to become the number one toymaker in the world.
We’ve been lucky enough to have a ringside seat for LEGO’s transformation. And like everybody who comes into contact with LEGO, we’re not sure we did it by working or playing — as it has always felt a lot like both. Our community has helped them build their YouTube channel, and we’ve also been a player in their overarching strategy to open their brand up to encourage and celebrate the imagination and genius of their many fans. You can’t be any more real about that than LEGO Ideas (formerly LEGO Cuusoo) which allows fans to recommend a set for creation, gather support from other fans, and earn a share of resulting sales as a bonus.
We think it’s the openness of their brand is the ultimate key to the success of their Academy Awards coup. That openness was reflected in their ability to poke fun at themselves while also having a laugh at the expense of the Motion Picture Academy, and at awards-competitions in general. You can see it all right there in Oprah’s off-the-charts smile.
Yes, today we’re just happy to call LEGO our cool friend.
They can totally take a bow.
