Lego: Create Your Escape
An escape room that re-engage kids with LEGO by translating the online gaming culture into tactile play.
My role: Journey & 3D Designer (exterior)
Client: LEGO
Agency: Set Creative
Lead Strategist: Justine Bloome
Creative Director: Dan Carter
Art Director: Debbie Yeh
Senior Graphic Designer: Steve Quested
3D Designer: Amand Barton (interior)
Mismatched play
As immersive online gaming is increasingly becoming the mode in the modern digital age, Lego’s static build-and-play format has lost its relevance. As such, the client approached Set Creative to find a way to reconnect with one of their target audience, boys 6–12 years old.
From target group research of play behavior and contemporary culture, we distilled the primary insight into: Young boys connect through play banter. They naturally bond by challenging one another, whether it’s on the basketball court or an online game. As one of the most popular games amongst Gen Z today, Fornite is an example of a platform that allows the target group to build their character through collaboration with their clan and competition with others. Comparing the perception of LEGO and the play behavior of young boys, there is a clear mismatch of desire.
LEGO
LEGO encourages players to follow build-instructions for the perfect model.
Target Group
Boys 6–8 are drawn to build freely. Parents want to foster creative play and self-expression.
LEGO is designed for independent play.
Boys 9–12 are drawn to play socially through collaboration and competition.
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How can LEGO reinstate their social relevance to 6-to-12-year-old boys?
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Static-build to action-build with
Create Your Escape
We pitched a transportable escape room experience inspired by the duality of collaboration and competition in the gaming culture of young boys.
With their guardians’ help, kids would team up in fours and select a clan to join—three unique clans each led by a different gaming influencer. The objective of the experience is for the team of four to solve riddles and puzzles, using LEGO blocks to unveil more clues that lead them to their escape. The clan that escapes the room fastest would win the LEGO Create Your Escape Championship.
Journey of Play
I designed a floor plan that guides the customer journey, taking into account the strategy behind the experience touch-points as well as the (needed) transportability of the structure.
1. Once the kids and guardians arrive, players check-in at the kiosks to receive their RFID. Guardians enter their email addresses to later receive photos and footage of their kids.
3A. A series of challenges are given and are based on familiar Gen Z references of memes / Star Wars / games. All problems can only be solved by using LEGO blocks. (Interior design/rendering by Amand Barton)
2. While the team waits their turn, they follow the mini-build challenges displayed in the practice zone. A large scoreboard of highest time scores is displayed in the same area.
3B. While the kids are in the escape room, guardians watch them in action from the spectator area. The same footage is streamed online for gamers or other clan members to watch.
4. Upon solving the last challenge, the team escapes and immediately lands at an exit photo moment, where guardians wait to photograph their kids. The team’s RFID is scanned and they are each prompted to select and submit a wishlist LEGO set. Closer to the holidays, the guardians receive an email with their kid’s wishlist submission from Create Your Escape.
LEGO, Relevant again
Reach: While the pop-up hops through different malls across the country and engage players locally, gamer influencers drive wider online participation nationally—growing more clan followers via various livestream platforms (Twitch, YouTube, Instagram).
Point of Purchase: With the brand prompting guardians to fulfill holiday wishlists, the kids can continue their LEGO experience even after their escape.
Through Create Your Escape, LEGO is able to reconnect with boys ages 6–12 by integrating the brand’s fundamental building blocks to social competition. A creative escape driven by a collaborative journey of surprises.
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A pitch won! Launched in October of 2019.
Final execution here.
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Over the course of 4 days, divided over Minneapolis, MN and Irvine, CA, there were 205 Create Your Escape sessions for 774 new friends of LEGO®.
The attendance objective was exceeded by +20%, with a combined 33 additional sessions added.
Create Your Escape received unsponsored coverage by Forbes.