Marketing Insight – Lego had lost its brand identity

In the early 2000s, amidst losses of approximately $1 million per day, Lego was on the brink of bankruptcy. It was a company, and brand, that had lost its identity. Faced with the threat of intensified competition in the traditional toy market and the rise of digital entertainment, the brand reacted by over-diversifying. It moved away from what had made it successful and launched products which had little connection to the core business. It was a costly error which confused and alienated its traditional audience.  

To re-build, Lego needed to re-establish its brand position and reconnect with its customers. It undertook extensive audience research, embedding researchers into families in US and German cities. This uncovered the insights that “children still had plenty of free time, that they enjoyed difficult problems and that they often behaved differently when unsupervised.” To survive, Lego needed to go back to its roots and remind people of what made it special: imagination, creativity and play. Advertising and storytelling would play a crucial role in this.  

Expanded audience targeting changed brand perceptions  

Lego realised that a major part of its audience were the adults who used to use its products when they were children themselves. Global advertising campaigns like ‘Rebuild the world’ allowed the brand to adopt a consistent message that Lego is for everyone and is a tool for creativity rather than just a toy. Classic sets were relaunched to tap into nostalgia and campaigns ran targeting adults specifically where previously kids had been the sole target audience. Through this sustained and consistent strategy, Lego expanded its audience and shifted perceptions. Today, Lego is seen as a multi-generational brand, rather than just a toy. 

Accelerating Growth: adapting to a changing environment 

From near bankruptcy in 2003, Lego has built revenue from $1bn per year to $9.8bn in 2023. The group now employs over 25,000 full-time staff members, with the workforce growing by 10,000 since 2018. It has gone from making daily losses of $1m to an annual profit of approximately $1.8bn. 

This was not an overnight success. Lego had a vision of where it wanted to go and it put the building blocks in place to get there. It measured effectiveness and made the adjustments necessary to be successful, instead of repeatedly knocking the whole thing over and starting again… The impact of activity like the Lego Movie and Rebuild the World campaign on product sales was carefully analysed (there was a 37% increase in Lego sales the year following the movie release). Customer perception of the brand was closely tracked, as well as engagement with content and advertising campaigns (Rebuild the World drove a 5% increase in sales and over 100million views across social platforms). 

Ultimately, a willingness to understand its audience, its position as a brand and the flexibility to adapt to a changing environment allowed Lego to build on its existing brand strengths to become one of the leading toy manufacturers in the world today.  

Three years ago, Femi Allen-Taylor joined MI Media as an account executive before becoming a data analyst. In this Day in the Life, Femi shares how he has used his different skills to take a varied journey throughout his career so far and why curiosity will stand anyone in good stead when developing their own profession.

What led you to a career in media?  

After finishing my BSC in Petroleum and Gas Engineering, the oil industry was in a rough spot as global oil prices were crashing and no one was hiring new grads. I had to switch gears quickly and as I was already doing graphic design as a side hustle, this became the easiest alternative. Graphic design ended up being my focus for the next few years. I enjoyed developing my creative side but after a while I found myself looking for something different. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I’ve always been analytical, so I decided to explore this aspect of my personality. I did some research, spoke to different people across different industries and discovered data analysis. Taking a master’s in business analytics turned out to be the best decision I ever made. After university, I didn’t know which industry I wanted to work in, but the more research I did into data analysis roles, the more I saw roles in advertising and media agencies, so I decided to apply to those. I interviewed at MI Media and this became my entry into the media industry.  

I originally applied for a data role at MI Media, but the team saw potential in my diverse skill set and offered me a position as an Account Executive instead. It was a great opportunity to gain hands-on industry experience, so I thought why not, let’s see where this takes me. I learnt a lot about the business, campaigns and managing clients. I also found that I was able to bring experience from my previous roles in graphic design to MI Media. As I grew within the company, my analytical strengths became increasingly evident. When an opportunity arose within the data team, I was well-positioned to make the transition. Over the past three years, my role has evolved significantly, allowing me to take on greater responsibilities and contribute more meaningfully to the business.  

What does a typical day as a data analyst look like for you?  

Like anyone else would say, within data, there’s no one typical day. There will always be a data request, so most days I will spend some time either listening to the team or sitting with clients to understand their data needs so we can deliver ad-hoc requests or develop a bespoke data solution. How I spend the rest of my day can vary from optimising dashboard reports and understanding what’s missing in a data set, to supporting my manager in statistical analysis projects for our clients and internal teams. Over the past year, I have been heavily involved in the development of our live reporting dashboard, MIDAS, connecting data and automating reporting so that we can extract and manipulate data before making it available to the team and our clients in easy-to-understand live reports. Any time I have left in my day I use to research what’s going on in the industry. Whether it’s new data science techniques & tools or the latest developments in AI, there’s always something new to explore. 

What mistake have you learnt the most from?  

Early in my career, I used to speak using technical jargon to anyone that cared to listen. What I know now is that not everyone is a data analyst that understands or even needs to know the level of detail I was giving. I’ve learned to tweak the way I speak to people based on who they are. You’re much more effective in your communication if you tailor how you speak to the person you’re talking to, it makes it far easier to communicate your ideas to them. 

Who’s your role model and why? 

I know it sounds cliché, but I would say my mum. She’s the most hard-working person I know. She has juggled work, family and many other different things at the same time. Always with a smile on her face. I have tapped into that in my own work ethic. I will get the job done no matter what it takes. No matter what I’m going through, I will work to solve problems. My mum never stops so have learned to never say never. I might be working on something where I can’t see an end in sight, but I know there will always be a way.   

What are the main challenges facing insurance marketers? 

Long sales cycles and delayed attribution: Insurance purchases involve long decision-making periods as customers compare policies and wait for renewal dates. This delay complicates policy sale attribution, often favouring performance media and over-crediting the last touchpoint instead of considering the full customer journey. 

Limited cross-channel visibility: Customers engage with multiple touchpoints across online and offline channels, including walled gardens such as Google, Meta and Amazon which restrict data-sharing. This fragmentation makes it difficult to track the entire customer journey, leading to challenges in accurately measuring attribution and ROI. 

Balancing brand and performance marketing: Awareness and trust-building efforts via upper-funnel channels like TV and OOH have long-term effects that do not immediately translate into measurable sales. These brand-building activities are often undervalued due to a lack of precise measurement, making it harder to justify long-term investment. In contrast, performance marketing, such as PPC and paid social, deliver short-term, trackable results but cannot substitute for weak brand presence. This leads to higher customer acquisition costs. Achieving the right balance between brand and performance marketing is critical for an effective marketing strategy and sustainable growth.  

Impact of pricing and seasonality on media effectiveness: Insurance purchases are highly price-driven, particularly during peak renewal periods, making it difficult to isolate media-driven impacts from competitive pricing and seasonal demand fluctuations. 

Challenges with aggregator sites and attribution: A significant proportion of insurance policies are purchased via price comparison sites like CompareTheMarket and GoCompare. This complicates media attribution by raising questions about whether policies bought via aggregators should be credited to marketing efforts or pricing alone. Insurers must balance direct response marketing with maintaining a strong presence on these platforms.  

By analysing historical data, MMM can estimate the extent to which aggregator-driven policy volumes is influenced by marketing efforts versus organic traffic. It quantifies the relationship between brand and performance media in driving policies, considering both aggregator sites and direct. As a result, MMM provides a holistic view of media effectiveness across all conversion paths, allowing insurance brands to optimise their marketing investments with confidence. 

What are the benefits of incorporating MMM into marketing strategies? 

By utilising MMMs into their marketing strategy, insurance brands can navigate the complexities of attribution with greater precision, ensuring that both brand-building and performance-driven efforts contribute effectively to overall policy sales and growth. The ability to quantify long-term brand impact, optimise media allocation and adjust for external factors like pricing and seasonality allows insurers to make data-driven decisions that maximize efficiency and ROI. 

Geo-incrementality testing further enhances MMM accuracy by providing real-world validation of media effectiveness, helping to refine model estimates and improve confidence in attribution results. 

Ultimately, MMM provides a holistic, scalable and future-proof approach to media measurement. It helps insurers reduce acquisition costs, refine their aggregator strategy and strengthen their competitive positioning; whilst finding an optimal mix between brand and performance marketing. In an industry where customer journeys are long and fragmented, MMM serves as a critical tool in balancing short-term conversions with sustainable brand revenue growth, driving higher policy sales and long-term marketing effectiveness. 

Brand partnerships can elevate subscription services by expanding reach, boosting credibility, and enhancing value. But what makes a partnership truly effective? In the following article Business Director, Craig Gallacher, explores key considerations of brand partnerships before reviewing three examples that nailed it. 

Beans and Toast. Daly and Winkleman. Mark Noble and West Ham. Three examples of partnerships where two entities come together to make an even more perfect whole. But what about brand partnerships? And how can these be successfully created by the Subscription economy?  

What are the main benefits of brand partnerships for subscription brands? 

This is absolutely not an exclusive list by any means, but five that immediately spring to mind include: 

• Expand reach: tap into a new customer base by accessing your partner’s first party data  

• Boost awareness: increase visibility by partnering with well-known brands and sharing marketing efforts  

• Add value to customers: offer exclusive perks to your customers to improve retention 

• Build credibility: strengthen trust by associating with reputable brands 

• Drive innovation: inspire ideas for new products and services 

So, which brands have gained a competitive advantage through smart brand partnerships? Here are three sterling examples. 

Boosting credibility with a like-minded service offering 

ZOE, the brainchild of Professor Tim Spector, tests users’ gut microbiomes amongst other things to provide tailored dietary recommendations for improving health. In late 2024, it announced a clever partnership with Mindful Chef. The collaboration saw a number of recipes from Spector’s latest book feature on the Mindful Chef menu. Customers of Mindful Chef are health conscious enough to demonstrate a commitment to their wellbeing via a food subscription service so the partnership presented ZOE and Tim Spector’s book to a highly receptive audience. For Mindful Chef, the partnership maintained its position of credibility within the healthy eating space and, as Spector is a bit of celebrity himself, may have also inspired people to try a box for the first time or switch from a rival recipe box subscription. 

Successful brand partnerships are about understanding your relationship with your audience 

So, what can we take from these examples? Whether it’s PlayStation and Apple TV+ teaming up to snag gamers, Gymshark helping Surreal reach cereal-loving fitness buffs, or Mindful Chef tapping into ZOE’s science-backed health wisdom, the formula is clear. Brand partnerships in the subscription world are all about reaching the right people, boosting visibility and giving customers more value. 

The key is to find that sweet spot where each brand complements the other and brings something fresh to the table. As subscription services continue to grow, we’re bound see more of these clever partnerships. It’s not just about selling a product, it’s about building a lasting relationship with your audience. 

Marketing Insight: thinking back to when jeans weren’t a wardrobe staple

It’s hard to believe now that, only 40 years ago, there would be a problem with the sale of jeans as today the likes of Levi’s, Wranglers and even a trusty M&S pair are an everyday staple in almost all our wardrobes. 

But if we go back to the 80’s, possibly the greatest decade for fashion (in my opinion), there was an explosion of youth culture. New Romantics, Soulboys, Young Casuals, Goths. You could find your tribe, the weirder the better. The problem was that none of these tribes were wearing jeans. 

Back then, in the US, Levi’s was associated with Ronald Reagan (i.e. old people)! Meanwhile in the UK, you had to look really hard to actually find jeans, usually in Millets.  

Ultimately, year-on-year sales for the former market leader, Levi’s, had decreased by 46% over four years. And the 501, Levi’s original jean from 1873, had suffered more than any other product. 

So, what did they do? 

On Boxing Day 1985 the now iconic ‘launderette ad’ aired.  

Nick Kamen enters a laundrette, takes off his Ray Bans, fills a washing machine with rocks, removes his t-shirt & jeans and puts them in the machine too. He then simply sits back and waits for the cycle to finish. The end line reads: “501 the original shrink to fit jeans”. 

The ad was deemed to be creative, raunchy and cool. Importantly, it sold van loads of jeans! It not only launched Nick Kamen’s career but also boosted sales of boxer shorts. In fact, it made such an impact that the ad had to be pulled as production could not keep up with demand. There was an astonishing 800% rise in sales. 

Accelerating Growth: increasing sales season by season

In 2023 the Jeans market was worth $71 billion, this is forecast to rise to $95 billion in 2030 (Source: Statista). By 2023, following year-on-year increases since 2010, Levi’s net sales had reached $6 billion. 

Brand awareness certainly plays a key part in Levi’s growth, but by pushing to the forefront of sustainability and product development, the brand continues to increase sales season by season. Whilst it’s difficult to attribute Levi’s sustainability goals to net sales, Levi’s is a leader in fashion sustainability, demonstrating a commitment to its values.  

So, did Beyonce’s song help boost business results? Levi’s Q3’24 results saw the sales of Levi’s 501 grow by 11%. Following a focus on growing the direct to consumer (DTC) business and the Beyonce ad campaign being activated across more than 3,000 DTC touchpoints, DTC grew by 10% in Q3. 

Jamie Hewitt joined MI over ten years ago and has seen the agency grow and develop over the decade. Last year he became the agency’s joint managing director, here he lets us look behind the scenes of the role of an MD.

What led you to a career in media?

I started getting a flavour for the industry through family connections and work experience when I was 15. I continued to spend my summers building experience in various small agencies, even spending time on graduate days with IPC. When I finished my A levels, this experience gave me the option of going to university or getting stuck in with my first job on the bottom rung of the media ladder. I’ve never been super academic, but I do enjoy structure with the freedom to be creative, so I chose the latter and haven’t looked back since! If I didn’t work in media, I would have either become a chef or joined the army!  

What does a typical day look like for you?

I typically start the week by making sure there’s milk in the fridge and biscuits in the tin for the team – we all know that a Milk Chocolate Hobnob is the winner! Beyond this, my job is to ensure the smooth running of MI Media. From looking after our people and keeping our clients happy to keeping the lights on in the office! On any given day this can look like 121s with the teams, joining a finance review or running client strategy sessions. For me it’s always been about being hands on and never asking anyone to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself. 

What mistake have you learned from the most?

I’ve made some clangers! But what stands out for me is that I lacked confidence in the early part of my career. I’m naturally an introvert, and it took me a long time to understand that this is not a negative trait but my superpower. So it took me a good while to push myself, commit, and be braver. We are fortunate to work in a people-based industry, you can always ask for help and support. You’d be surprised at how much people are willing to get involved and lend a hand. 

Who’s your role model and why?

I’ve always been a fan of military history and cooking, as my other possible careers might suggest! So Major Dick Winters of Band of Brother fame, and the infamous chef Anthony Bourdain both come to mind as two people that literally lived their lives on the front line, were great leaders in their fields and had a work hard play hard ethic! 

As reported by Campaign, following a three-way competitive pitch, supported and run by AAR Consultancy, Prostate Cancer UK appointed MI Media as its media agency of record.

The UK’s leading men’s health charity has ambitious growth targets. A core part of this is reaching and activating thousands more men across the UK to check their risk of prostate cancer and find out what they can do about it using Prostate Cancer UK’s award-winning 30 second Risk Checker. Helping more men understand their risk is key to ending needless deaths from prostate cancer. The earlier prostate cancer is found, the easier it is to treat.

John Dickinson-Lilley interim director of communications at Prostate Cancer UK said, “We’re excited to be working with MI Media. Throughout the pitch process they really demonstrated their strategic thinking and ability to deliver integrated planning, which we feel is the key to unlocking our growth opportunities in coming years.”

Our scope covers above the line, paid search, paid social and display. We will work in partnership with Goodstuff’s G-Force team for TV buying.

Richard Slater, joint managing director at MI Media said, “a disease which impacts us all and is a cause we’re passionate about. With some of our charity client relationships spanning over a decade, we have followed the changes in giving behaviour over a number of years and know that charities see the biggest success in securing donations when they have synchronised their work across both fundraising and brand building. We’re excited to be working with the team at Prostate Cancer UK to save and support thousands of men and their families across the UK.”

Laura Moorcraft, managing director, G-Force said, “We’re thrilled to be working in collaboration with MI Media and Prostate Cancer UK to take the charity’s media to new levels of impact and effectiveness.”

‘He who dares wins’ is one of those phrases that’s easy to say, but often hard to act on. However, in the context of UK charities, I’d argue it’s something to seriously consider over the next few years. Unfortunately taking a risk seems even harder when you feel vulnerable and the last five years have certainly been choppy waters for UK charities.

Looking first at The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a UK charity that works to end suicide. Its CEO, Simon Gunning, has made a noticeable impact since beginning the rapid transformation of its brand and operations, more than doubling its helpline service provision over a four-year period to reach more people before the point of crisis. As a former digital marketer who worked on the corporate side, including spells at Virgin Media and the BBC, it’s clear that Gunning is challenging charity norms.

Asking media and corporate partners to join you in taking a risk

From an outsider’s perspective, there are a few key areas which stand out where CALM has done things differently. The most obvious is the work the charity has done to get media and corporate partners to join them in taking some risks to create more impactful and compelling campaigns. However, it’s also clear the charity has wanted to use paid media in a more daring way, which can not only cut through, but also be amplified through publicity.

CALM’s clear focus on creating strong partnerships with media owners and brands has been bold and confrontational. One of the first campaigns under Gunning’s tenure (the Project 84 ITV partnership) focused on raising awareness of the fact that 84 men in the UK died by suicide each week. This launched with a graphic, attention-grabbing visual stunt: 84 statues of real male suicide victims were stood on top of ITV’s Studio Tower in the line of sight of Parliament. CALM then used each of these men’s real-life stories to build content across ITV’s channels and shows to encourage discussion and understanding. The campaign generated a huge level of publicity, putting the issue at the heart of the charity on the map and rightly winning several awards as a result.

Innovative content has been key to the success of Prostate Cancer UK. Following the pandemic, NHS England launched initiatives to get people back to their GPs, but checking yourself for the risk of prostate cancer posed a conundrum. Most cancers are detected by checking yourself, watching for symptoms and going for screening. But not prostate cancer. It doesn’t have symptoms until the cancer has spread and is the most common cancer with no routine screening program, putting people at a higher risk. To attack the issue, the charity developed a 30-second Risk Checker; an interactive, shareable piece of content that serves as a simple call to action in its campaign. It asks for age, ethnicity and family history to determine a man’s risk. After the first year, 211,000 men had used the Risk Checker. It was so effective that NHS England (NSHE) funded a £1.9m first-of-its-kind partnership campaign to deliver it. Together they scaled up the campaign to boost prostate cancer referrals, funded by NHSE and delivered by Prostate Cancer UK. It was the largest-ever charity partnership with NHSE and the first nationwide public health campaign delivered in this way.

Taking these new bold and innovative routes has undoubtedly helped both charities but it’s not without its risks. Of course, it’s easy for an outsider to extol the virtues of being more adventurous. It’s still important to recognise why charities have a degree of conservatism in their approach. Taking a wrong step could aggravate or even lose existing donors who might start to think the marketing budget for their chosen causes is being used irresponsibly. However, given the current context, there are some clear benefits of taking risks which the marketing departments within charities should spell out internally:

• Marketing campaigns can be used as a tool to challenge any misconceptions or taboos surrounding a charity/cause. To stand out amongst a sea of marketing, these must be bold
• Less conventional campaigns have the power to develop strong emotional connections and reinforce a clear brand identity
• Finally, brand campaigns like those mentioned above become talking points that are engaged with and shared more widely an in turn may attract the attention of prospective partners looking for leaders in the charity sector, or prompt valuable publicity

Over the past couple of weeks, events have been held across London as our industry leaders discuss their expectations for the year ahead in advertising. From the current mood amongst consumers to the continued conversations around AI’s impact on advertising, below we share our key takeaways on what we should look out for over the next twelve months.  

AI is still the word on everyone’s lips 

You would be forgiven for thinking we’d reached peak AI, but our news headlines are still saturated with it and these events were no different. At The Media Leader Year Ahead, panellists were asked what they thought would happen with AI in the advertising industry. Chloe Davies, founder & CEO of It Takes a Village questioned if AI is still a hype or if this will be the year when we face the reality, saying, “AI is still a tool, it’s there to be guided. AI can be anything we want it to be, we are the ones that need to shape the stories.” Meanwhile, Susan Kingston Brown, Brand President at UM lamented that, “Businesses see it as cost efficiency, but the problem then is that everything become bland. We should be training AI and asking questions. Bring back the power of humans. Bring back creativity and collaboration.” Human creativity was a sentiment echoed at Campaign’s Year Ahead, as Monzo’s AJ Coyne said, “I will always be an advocate of craft over technology. How I view AI is that you should never see it. It should be in the background.” At MI, we are inclined to agree with Katie Jackson, CMO, Channel 4 who said, “As long as we use AI to be additive and not reductive or replicative, then I think we’re in a good place.” 

What will make 2025 more rewarding? 

Finally, when asked ‘what will make our jobs more rewarding in the year ahead in advertising?’ panellists answered: ‘honesty’, ‘positivity’, ‘curiosity’ and ‘celebration’. By keeping these words in mind, we can approach the year with the fantastic ‘What If…’ mentality that Jackson has introduced to her team at Channel 4. What if 2025 turns out to be a really great year? 

The January launch aligns with a key time of year for job searches when many are motivated to make career moves in their New Year’s resolutions. Research shows that Mondays are the peak for job searches so, to target candidates on their commute as they start their working week, ads will be placed across key commuter OOH locations in London including Kings Cross, Liverpool Street and Waterloo. A study by The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities claims that 7 in 10 UK adults experience ‘the Sunday scaries’, with most citing the upcoming work week as the reason. To distract themselves, Welcome to the Jungle’s target audience turns to social media, therefore the OOH will be supported by display and social across Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn.