Madiba Lego video is a winner

A shot from the video.

A shot from the video.

Published May 29, 2014

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Johannesburg - The ad agency team who used Lego to tell Nelson Mandela’s life story in a video have been rewarded with a trip to the Cannes Lions 2014 festival next month.

Marketing agency Quirk entered their video in the YouTube Film Hack competition #LivingThe Legacy.

For the competition, entrants were given a brief to use Madiba as inspiration to create an innovative YouTube video content that would lead to a campaign for South Africans to follow in his steps.

Creative director Fran Luckin said the team “went ballistic” when they heard the news of their win on Wednesday.

“We brainstormed, reviewed and ended up deciding to shoot in Lego because it was affordable, everybody loves it and it’s popular,” she said.

 The amount of views the YouTube video received also formed part of the winning criteria.

On Thursday morning, the video had had close on 19 000 views.

In the short video, Mandela is seen as a prisoner lying in his cell and working on Robben Island. Another scene shows Lego people protesting against apartheid, while another shows Mandela dressed in a suit leaving prison with a smile. The next scene shows him standing with former president FW de Klerk and the last one shows Mandela addressing a crowd of people with his fist in the air.

At the end of the video, the following quote is shown: “You’re never too young to know the whole story… Help us keep the legacy alive.”

The Quirk team willhand a request to the makers of Lego to create a 'Madiba: Freedom Fighter' set on December 5 (to vote for that campaing, go to www.legocy.co.za)

The YouTube competition was run by Google in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Foundation communications firector Danielle Melville said: “Quirk delivered a unique and thought-provoking submission capturing the most popular moments in Madiba's life using Lego - a format that is nostalgic and appeals equally to younger and older generations.”

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