“Lego has had a history in the world of gaming for at least 25 years, and then of course this tremendous history of the brick itself and the system of play,” says Lego VP of global brand development Alero Akuya, as she discusses the world-famous toy company’s approach to brand experiences. “Really, it’s just about combining those two things and meeting consumers where they are – whether they’re online or sitting at their kitchen table with their family.”

Since joining Lego in 2019, Akuya has orchestrated its first brand campaign in over 30 years, as well as playful activations with artists such as Yinka Ilori and its first-ever girls brand campaign Play Unstoppable. Prior to that, she was one of the driving forces behind Nike New York, where she pioneered the brand’s purpose marketing division and aligned it with everyone from local communities through to athletes including Colin Kaepernick and Serena Williams.

For Lego’s latest experience, Superpower Studios, Akuya explains that the brand wanted to subvert the norms of an art exhibition in order to make children “the chief architects of play”. “If you think of a traditional art gallery, you go in, it’s beautiful, you can see but you cannot touch. And so we thought, what would this look like through a child’s eyes?”