That’s tongue in cheek, of course. I don’t think brands are evil, and I don’t think that marketeers are inherently evil either. On this point I disagree with the late, great Bill Hicks (FYI, Bill, I’m not jumping off a bridge for you). I recognise that the average Joe sometimes has an issue with the commercial motivations of ‘our’ brands being above all others, and sometimes when it’s really obvious I’m kind of on the same page, but you don’t build a brand without believing in it else I’ll call you a wise man what has an obsession with sandcastles.

Lego.

Lego has a special place in my heart. Not only because as a child I used it to exercise my imagination to exhaustion, not only because I can tip out my old Lego box even now and spend hours doing the same, but I think a large part of it is from my exploration into the Lego world from a marketeers perspective. I’ve been blown away with how true they remain to their roots, to how they always seem to be up for doing different and excellent work (some of their print stuff has been sublime, and their digital stuff excellent as well), how they constantly innovate to stay relevant without losing a piece of where they came from, and most of all how they stay true to the power of imagination and how that on its own is one of the most powerful forces our mind has the ability to wield.

What happens in this video is an example of how they smash it across the board really. This, while an offline occurrence, is exactly how brands should be doing community management in my opinion. Looking for the opportunities to reward devoted fans and opening up situations where they can engage and develop those relationships is how things should be, and increasingly are done. Love it.