LEGO Germany was a co-operation partner for the release of Star Wars 3D –Episode 1. Therefore we were asked to create an involving idea to promote LEGO Star Wars sets in cinemas. The promotion had to capture the huge fascination of the Star Wars universe and combine it with the innovative and interactive nature of LEGO, selling LEGO Star Wars sets in the most playful way.

On the first weekend about 60,000 people in cinemas were fascinated by the organ. Major cultural blogs from all over the world (e.g. wired.com, huffingtonpost.com, engadget.com) reported about the organ, exciting the global Star Wars community as well as millions of other readers and leading all of them to the microsite. In 1 weekend we gained more than 250,000 views on YouTube.

During the time of the promotion, 5 of the sets from the organ landed among the top 20 best-selling toys in Germany – making Star Wars the best-selling LEGO segment.

We let LEGO play music – through a gigantic barrel organ, made from 20,000 LEGO bricks. We translated the Star Wars Main Theme to a matrix. Based on that, we built 4 Star Wars worlds onto the barrel – arranged precisely in such a way that they touched mechanical levers, striking the keys of a keyboard and playing the music. Around the premiere, people could play the organ in German cinemas. Via QR Code, the built sets could be instantly ordered online. Documentation from the event led the global Star Wars community to a microsite, where they also could experience the organ.

By opening up sound as a completely new creative aspect of LEGO, we truly fascinated the LEGO fans, involving them personally and giving them the chance to do something never done before: play music with LEGO.Since music is also an essential part of the Star Wars fascination, using the movie’s main theme was a perfect way to appeal to Star Wars fans and inspire their imagination, creating the LEGO Star Wars universe in their minds.