What happens to kids’ creative playtime when Nike kicks team up with Lego bricks?
Late last month, Nike and the Lego Group announced a multi-year partnership set to launch co-branded products worldwide in 2025, celebrating both sport and creative play.
Nike and Lego released a digital animation video marking this new collaboration. At the center is a custom Lego Minifigure head featuring the Nike Swoosh as its smile, surrounded by sports references and iconic symbols from both brands.
- Fans will recognize the orange Nike shoebox, the waffle outsole and Nike Air technologies, along with LEGO bricks, a Minifigure, and a castle and studs.
The video also features shared icons like the duck, Lego’s first product and a symbol synonymous with Oregon. (Nike’s headquarters are in Beaverton, Oregon.) The Pegasus horse references a well-known Nike footwear innovation, and the G.O.A.T. nods to the top athletes in Nike’s portfolio.
“At Nike, we believe in the power of sport to move the world forward, and that starts with kids,” says Cal Dowers, vice president of Nike’s Global Kids division. “We’re committed to creating a more accessible and inclusive future that inspires kids of all ages and abilities to be more active. Together, with the Lego Group, we’re excited to invite all kids into a new vision of sport and creative play.”
- Nike’s Global Kids division generated $5.1 billion in sales during the fiscal year ending on May 31, marking 1% growth compared to the previous year.
- With this growth, Nike is continuing to boost engagement and sales through partnerships like the one with Lego.
Fueling The Future
A Lego Group study revealed that a third of children globally play creatively for just three hours a week.
- Similarly, the World Health Organization reports that only one in five kids gets the physical activity they need.
Plus, 59% of parents who participated in a separate survey by Lego indicated they worry their children don’t have enough playtime or access to fun activities.
With the concerns about limited physical activity and creative playtime among kids, the Nike x Lego collab may also evolve to include interactive experiences.
“At the Lego Group, we believe in the power of play to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow,” says Alero Akuya, Lego Group’s vice president of brand development. “By combining the creativity of Lego play with the energy and passion of sport we want to inspire new ways for kids to play and be creative…Together, we will create unique experiences that will engage and excite kids around the world, inspiring them to explore their imaginations.”
Fans are left to imagine what the Lego sets will look like, so they’ve taken to asking AI to come up with some ideas.
This latest collaboration joins Nike’s other efforts to engage youth, like its partnership with Spotify in the U.K. to create the Make Moves Fund, which uses the power of music to get girls moving and help improve their mental well-being. The sportswear company also partnered with Dove to launch Body Confident Sport, a scientifically proven set of tools for coaching 11-to-17-year-old girls to build body confidence.
Now, Nike hopes that its latest collaboration with Lego – in an effort to connect with buyers outside of the sporting goods sphere – will pay off, and people are looking forward to the Nike-themed Lego sets.
Previously, Nike partnered with Roblox to create “Nikeland,” a virtual world on the Roblox platform modeled after Nike’s real-life headquarters. This virtual space included mini-games, athlete integrations and a digital showroom where gamers dressed their avatars in Nike gear.
Like Nikeland, the new Nike x Lego collaboration could connect to the next generation of athletes, serving as a brand engagement tool and a potential testing ground for upcoming products.
