2.3 Million Reach, One Growth Loop: What LEGO’s “Build the Change” Teaches Us About Unity and Values-Led Marketing

Most brands treat unity like a mood board.

LEGO treats unity like a mechanism: get people building together, give them a shared mission, and let participation do the selling.

The Build the Change social impact programme doubled from 900,000 children (2022) to 2+ million (2023), and then reached 2.3 million children (2024). It’s also explicitly funded by the LEGO Foundation, with a published grant line of DKK 199,000 thousand (Build the Change 2022–2025).

And yes, LEGO’s commercial engine is also flying: the LEGO Group reported DKK 74.3bn revenue in 2024 (+13%).

Here’s are some key take aways from unity playbook (without faking it).

1. Three “collaboration gaps” to design for

You’re not just selling a product.

You’re selling belonging, and belonging reduces friction.

Design your marketing around three gaps most brands leave open:

1. The Participation Gap – “You want me to agree… or actually do something?” Unity campaigns die when they’re just statements. LEGO makes unity hands-on: kids build solutions, not just read claims.

2. The Proof Gap – “OK, show me the numbers.” LEGO publishes scale: 900k → 2m+ → 2.3m children. That’s how values become credible.

3. The Distribution Gap – “This can’t rely on your Instagram.” Build the Change expanded through schools, educators and partners across multiple countries. When unity is real, distribution multiplies.

2. What Build the Change gets right (and what you learn)

1) Make the value participatory (not performative)

Build the Change invites children to tackle real-world sustainability challenges through play. That’s the trick: the marketing is the experience.

Steal it: stop asking people to “join the movement.” Give them a thing to do that creates a shareable outcome.

2) Make it teachable (so others can run it without you)

LEGO leaned into educator packs and school rollouts, so the programme doesn’t bottleneck on LEGO’s team.

Steal it: turn your best results into a repeatable “kit”:

• a one-page guide

• a template

• a challenge format

• a simple scoring/feedback loop

  
  

3) Make it measurable (so your values can compound)

LEGO Foundation funding is published, and the programme scale is published. That’s rare. And it’s why it’s believable.

Takeaway: pick 3 metrics you can publish monthly (even if they’re small at first):

• participants

• outcomes created

• repeat participation rate

4. Your website checklist (copy–paste)

Make collaboration impossible to miss on-site:

• Homepage strip: “We don’t just sell X. We build X with you.”

• Proof block (above CTA):

  • “People who took part this month:”

  • “What they made / achieved:”

  • “What changed because of it:”

• Community page: one simple loop: Join → Do → Share → See outcomes

• FAQ: “What happens after I participate?” (most brands forget this)

If a savvy friend asked, “Is this real, or just a campaign?” your site should answer without a sales call.

5. Quick channel templates for unity-led marketing

Paid / organic social

• “Don’t support our mission. Build one outcome with us in 10 minutes.”

• “Here’s the challenge. Here’s the template. Post what you make.”

Email

• Subject: “Want to help shape the next version of [product/service]?”

• Body: 3 bullets: What you’ll do / time it takes / what you’ll get back

• CTA: “Join the next build session”

Landing page hero

• Headline: “Built with customers, not just for them.”

• Subhead: “Join the monthly build. Your input becomes the roadmap.”

Bottom line

You don’t have to be LEGO.

You just have to stop treating unity as a slogan and start treating it as a product loop people can join.

Start with one challenge, one partner, and three numbers you’re willing to publish every

month. That’s how “values” becomes sentiment, and sentiment becomes long-term revenue.