I once went to an art exhibition and at the entrance was a large table, two meters wide – stretching the length of an enormous room. The table held thousands and thousands of basic Lego bricks, all in white.

Surrounding the table were stools, so you can sit and play. Rising out of the piles of bricks stood impossible structures people had built. Thin towers stretching two meters above the table.

The Death Star hovering between two other towers, replicas of famous landmarks; the pyramids, St Paul’s Cathedral, buildings that looked as though they were from a Marvel movie or Lord of the Rings. People had sat here and played with these bricks for hours. It was fun. It was art. And what amazed me is that this was all made possible by little pieces of plastic.

When I think about creative brands, I tend to think of their impact on the world around them. How have they inspired creativity? What do they contribute? Is it the product or the marketing department that defines the creative? Lego sells a tiny plastic brick but has unleashed creativity for generations and still inspires today. Through the nature of play, Lego allows people to express their creativity.

Welcome to Lego. The most creative brand in the world.

At the heart of it: Lego = play. The name Lego comes from the phrase ‘play well’ in Danish and play and creativity go hand in hand. The original Lego brand and products were designed to spark creativity. The brand has helped children around the world imagine possibilities, create things based on their ideas, play, experiment, deconstruct and rebuild within a world where the only limit is their imagination. The infinite possibilities challenge users to think, to come up with new ways of building, or new shapes, structures, or characters in their play.

And if you’re ever short on ideas, the brand has a solution for that, too. The website has an idea generator that puts two prompts together in unexpected ways. For example: build something for your best friend and give it superpowers. Build a delicious burger and give it too many eyes. Build a lightning-fast race car, only using your favorite color, build something that hides your treasures, and then add propellers

And there are no wrong answers. A tweet from Lego reads “I don’t know who needs to hear this but there is no such thing as a bad build.” This shows the brand understands what it means to be creative. It’s one of the fundamental rules of creativity. There is no judgment in what you create with Lego. There are no rules. And you are free to explore what you like.

However, often with creativity, there does need to be a boundary within which to play. A foundation that gives creativity shape. It can’t be too restrictive to hinder the creation, too open and nothing happens. As a creative, sometimes the most intimidating thing is an empty piece of paper or artboard. But Lego has achieved the perfect balance between boundaries and freedom. They’ve defined the tool – the little colored bricks, and the rest is up to you. Lego gives the tools to create. There is no destination in mind but lets you go where you want to.

And you think Lego is just for kids? Think again. The creativity that Lego inspires can last decades. You might grow out of the primary-colored standard bricks, but beyond this – Lego has inspired a cult-like following around the world. There are intricate, collector’s edition sets for the adult child-at-heart. You can combine sets to recreate scenes from movies (as one woman did with a room-sized recreation of Rivendell from Lord of the Rings). There’s even a name for these people: AFOLs, Adult Fans of Lego.

But to me, a brand isn’t always what the company says it is, more often a brand is what customers say it is. A senior leader at Lego has been quoted as saying, “the brand experience has gone further than the company ever envisaged.”

In the end, creativity grows creativity. It builds on itself by providing a constant loop of inspiration. One thing inspires the next and so on. By focusing on the philosophy of play, with just the right amount of boundaries, Lego has found the sweet spot in what it means to be creative. From children to adults, Lego has fostered creativity and inspired the builders, problem solvers, artists, and thinkers of today and tomorrow.

It is the most creative brand in the world, by fostering the most creativity in the world.

This blog was part of my entry to the Cannes Creative Academy 2022