Photo by Ting Zhang

LEGO wanted to be loved by girls. To achieve this, they needed to have first-hand knowledge of how girls actually play in their natural environment, not what moms said they did. As trusted anthropologist partners, we embarked on an exciting journey into girls' multiverse of play.

We kicked off the project by familiarizing ourself with everything about the girls, and going to wherever we could find them - figure skating class, Karate competitions, even the street dance practice corner! We became friends with their moms, peeking into girls' life through their WeChat moments. Like devoted actors preparing for their roles, we trained outselves to be psychologically fluent in their needs and wants. Once ready, we went on a 2-week play trip with 9 girls across Beijing, Chengdu and Nanjing. To make the girls feel empowered, we simply played their guest friends. We let them take the lead, introduce their family, show us around their house and most importantly 'teach' us how to play. Instead of hiring a videographer, we employed the ethnographic film approach, making the girls believe the camera was just an extention of our arm. As a result, we managed to get hundreds of minutes of natural play footage which was rare to get!

In addition to a visually rich magazine-like report and a 15-min film on how girls play, we conducted a full day immersive workshop with LEGO product & creative teams. With tons of photos, music, real toys and lively play clips in the room, we let the team feel how girls feel and play the way girls play. The room was bursting with ideas and the team simply couldn't wait to create new experiences for girls!