The LEGO BRICK CAFÉ is a first of its kind LEGO experience, designed specifically for adults to demonstrate the mental health benefits of playing with LEGO.

To playfully bring the café concept to life in radio, we turned each word of our announcer’s voice into a LEGO brick, and then arranged and rearranged these bricks to build different sentences.

The first sentence refers to the negatives of work stress. The second is a playful jumble that leads to the relief of the third, which explains how play is a good way for adults to destress.

The significant script challenge was to choose just 14 words that could explain the problem, then be rearranged to perfectly describe the solution - making them modular just like Lego bricks.

Work. Stress. Can. Build.

Play. On. Your. Mind.

And. Help. Break. Down. Your. Confidence.

Break. Your. Build.

Stress. Down. Confidence.

Can. Work. Help. Play. On. Mind. Your. And.

Play. Can. Build. On. Your. Confidence.

Break. Down. Work. Stress.

And. Help. Your. Mind.

The LEGO BRICK CAFÉ.

A place for grown-ups to play.

PROBLEM:

Over 70% of adults experience stress that could lead to serious mental & physical health problems. Play can reduce this risk but most adults don’t play.

CHALLENGE:

Persuade adults who see LEGO as a toy for children, that it’s also a toy for adults.

TARGET:

Busy adults, working in high-stress jobs.

BRIEF:

Create a radio ad that playfully communicates the mental health benefits of LEGO and raises awareness of our adult play café.

OBJECTIVE:

Open LEGO up to a new market by demonstrating how playing with LEGO can reduce stress and increasing awareness of the café.

This 20-second radio spot drove organic search and traffic to the café website, where customers could book their table. The café experience sold out, making national news and international news.

Our research proved the power of playing with Lego to help adults reduce stress and reframed LEGO as a toy for grown-ups.

Customer’s stress levels decreased by 33% and their feeling of calm increased a massive 850%. And the results were impressive for the brand too. Perception of LEGO as a ‘toy for me’ went up over 80% and the likelihood to buy LEGO for an adult increased by 55%.

The café experience sold out and the LEGO Brick Café reached an audience of over 260million people worldwide – adults who were now talking about LEGO as a brand for grown-ups, and not children.

The LEGO Brick Café opened in Dublin during World Mental Health month. It targeted people working in stressful jobs. This innovative way of dealing with stress captured the attention and imagination of the country, even leading St James’s Hospital, one of Ireland’s biggest acute hospitals, starting to prescribe LEGO play as a way to help their Doctors and Nurses de-stress.