In order to encourage the children to play, the complete Nickelodeon program was turned off between 12 noon and 6 pm. In its place, there was only a LEGO-sponsored black screen displaying the motto: “Play instead of watching TV!” The appeal to spend the afternoon playing with LEGO was communicated in many different ways during the run-up to the campaign. The station broadcast on-air and online appeals to spend the TV-free day playing with LEGO. The board game product line had been placed in commercial breaks prior to the TV-free afternoon, with TV sweepstake trailers calling on people to participate in a LEGO sweepstakes on the TV station’s website. The product line’s integration into Nickelodeon’s teletext and newsletter drew additional attention to the new LEGO games. The appeal to spend the afternoon not watching TV, combined with incentives to play with LEGO, created a desire in children to participate in the game day, thus making it a complete success.

The game day brought about an amazing response from children and families. The campaign created a buzz on the internet and was discussed in countless portals, forums and on Facebook. Mothers were thrilled, retailers were happy and LEGO registered a 28% increase in awareness of its board games during the promotion period. Ownership grew by 67% and the desire to buy the products increased by as much as 71%. (Research May/June 2010, All mums, kids 6-11).