Lego and Nike will start producing “co-branded products, content, and experiences starting next year,” according to the companies. It’s unclear exactly what that means, but the potential of merging two of the most beloved brands on the planet is huge. Both companies have extensive experience designing meaningful products: Nike with its gear and branding, and Lego with is unparalleled play experience. Bringing both together could blow the socks off kids (and adults).
According to the joint press release, the spirit of the collaboration is the usual “everything is awesome” and “just do it” cocktail you expect from the two companies. They say the partnership is based on a mutual belief that creative and physical activities are crucial for children’s development and for helping them reach their full potential. It also happens to align with both companies’ business goals. Let’s try to divine what they may have in store for us. (Neither company offered comment on the partnership.)
Major co-branding opportunities
On a logical level, the partnership could bring new Lego sets that tap into Nike’s recognizable branding the same way Lego has partnered with multiple other brands over the years. The company sells brick versions of all kinds of classic and modern vehicles (Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti, Lamborghini and/or Vespa . . . ), movie properties (Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Lord of the Rings, and the upcoming Wicked. . . ), gaming brands (Nintendo, Atari, Namco . . . ), even NASA spaceships in collaboration with engineers of the space agency.
These are sold as part of the Lego Icons series, and I can totally see the Danish company creating sets of the first Nike Air Jordan and Marty McFly’s Nike Bruins. I can also imagine Lego adding details across its most popular toy line, Lego City, incorporating Nike branding into elements within those sets.
There’s also an opportunity for Nike to redesign some of the Lego-branded hoodies, T-shirts, backpacks, and other items Lego sells in its online and physical stores. These happen to be dreadful and could really use Nike’s design finesse. Likewise, Nike may use the opportunity to add the Lego brick aesthetic to some cool sneakers or sports clothing.
An opportunity for something bigger
But there could be something even more interesting at play here. In the press release, Alero Akuya, VP of brand development at the Lego Group, says the company wants to inspire new ways for kids to play and be creative—to “reimagine how creative play and sport can unite.”
Lego cites its own research, which found that a third of children globally get only three hours of playtime a week. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization reports that only one in five kids gets sufficient physical activity. This may indicate that, rather than competing with sports, the toy company wants to be present in any physical activity out of the living room.
This may translate into some kind of Lego set that spreads across a playground or garden, tied with some kind of real-world playability element that involves physical activity. I’m imagining a treasure-hunt-race game that combines building Lego objects equipped with electronic sensors on Nike sneakers equipped with Near Field Communication chips (like the ones used to trace AirTags). Tied to phones and tablets, a game like this could build a large scale, real-world “video” game in which kids have to race from place to place to achieve objectives. This makes a lot of sense, in terms of the declared ethos of the partnership, but also looking at Lego and Nike’s own history of digital gamification.
Merging the physical and digital
Back in the 1990s, as digital games exploded in popularity and took away hours from kids’ construction time, Lego’s sales suffered. Initially, Lego tried to get into gaming, but that strategy failed and the company almost went bankrupt. Later, it learned to partner and license its IP to create a hugely successful digital game empire that eventually pioneered the idea of combining the physical bricks with a digital game interface.
One of Lego’s most successful collabs ever was with Nintendo, thanks to the Lego Super Mario line. The game lets kids build physical game levels using bricks and characters such as Mario, Luigi, or Princess Peach, that are equipped with optical sensors. Kids build the sets according to their instructions, with special bricks that have visual codes that the characters’ sensors can read. Then they race through the physical courses, jumping on enemies, walking on different terrains, and going through traps to get coins and virtual rewards, all thanks to the connectivity with a Lego Super Mario app.
Now, sub Nike gear for Mario characters, and you could see how Lego could scale up to playgrounds or parks.
This is a massive opportunity to plant an early loyalty flag in the brains of kids everywhere. “We’re committed to creating a more accessible and inclusive future that inspires kids of all ages and abilities to be more active,” says Cal Dowers, Nike’s VP, global kids. “Together, with [Lego], we’re excited to invite all kids into a new vision of sport and creative play.”
I can’t imagine a better way to make this happen than by tying the beloved Lego childhood memories to Nike sports gear and than merging kids’ brick creations to physical activities with friends and family.