Holiday Campaign Interview: Shake Up Imagination

 

Marie Ronn
Creative Director R/GA
In a few words, tell us about your role in the creation of "Shake Up Imagination"

 

Creative Director / Gift Wrapper
What was the original brief for this campaign?
Position LEGO sets as the most imaginative and fun holiday gift.
What inspired you to approach the campaign this way?
Everyone knows what kids do to figure out what’s inside a gift- they put it to their ear and shake shake shake!
Once we realized that the simple iconic sound of LEGO bricks was all we needed to demonstrate the infinite possibilities of LEGO, -no other idea came close.
How difficult was it to sell the idea to LEGO?
LEGO Systems is an amazing partner. They immediately recognized the potential in the iconic brick shake-sound as a spark for imagination.
Also even though these were all totally unscripted films, they didn’t hesitate taking a leap of faith and putting their trust in our hands- or rather our talents’ tiny little hands.
What was the biggest challenge you faced during the process?
We wanted the kids’ reactions to be completely genuine.
And for that to happen, we had to ensure that throughout the entire casting and production process, neither the kids nor their parents knew this was a LEGO project. So we carefully masked any LEGO logos and code-named it (the extremely creative and original) ‘Project X’. From director, to client, to crew, our lips had to be sealed until cameras were rolling.
What did you learn from the experience?
That there are such things as Double Dinosaurs and Carrot Villages- or ought to be.
What’s a “behind the scenes” story that only you know about?
We accidentally gave the kids full access to the craft service cookie buffet and had to have them run off their sugar rush before rolling.
What do you think the advertising industry's New Year’s resolution should be?
Let’s rid of all work of boring, dated & harmful stereotypes.
We call ourselves creatives, so surely we can all come up with more authentic, empowering and diverse stories to tell!
What is your favorite holiday campaign of all time?
Very much love this idea of Christmas Hyrrs. A fun, smart way to deliver important messages & all proceeds go to Refuge Women’s Charity.
www.hyrrsnothymns.com

 

Marie Ronn
Creative Director R/GA