You might remember that in the November-December issue of the LEGO Club Magazine we got our first introduction to LEGO Life, a new social media app for kids that replaces the previous LEGO message boards (see: LEGO Club Magazine: Moana & More!). At that time, the app was only available in the UK, but since then it expanded to other countries as well. To celebrate the launch of LEGO Life, LEGO posted a contest on the ReBrick website. Below are further details about the app and the contest. 🙂
➡ LEGO LIFE APP DETAILS: The LEGO Group recently announced the launch of LEGO Life, a safe social network for kids under the age of 13. The app-centered digital experience allows young LEGO builders of all levels and interests to connect with a community of like-minded peers to express their creativity, share their LEGO creations, interact with LEGO characters, and inspire one another. The experience launched on January 31st in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland, with additional markets opening in 2017 and 2018.
“The LEGO Group aims to develop digital experiences that complement and enhance LEGO play,” said Rob Lowe, head of LEGO Life. “LEGO Life creates a platform that amplifies the joy of building and pride of creation that kids experience with tactile play through the digital world in a safe way – further unleashing creativity among kids and tweens on a much broader scale.” LEGO Life bridges physical and digital play experiences, innovating on the best of today’s social network features to add a social layer to LEGO play. After seeing millions of kids share their pride of creation in the “Cool Creations” section of LEGO Club Magazine and use LEGO.com message boards to share stories and photos about LEGO building, a richer, more dynamic social media platform such as LEGO Life is a natural next step in the evolution of LEGO community engagement. “LEGO Life provides the platform where kids and tweens can take their LEGO creations and stories and give them the audience they deserve,” added Lowe.
The LEGO Life app lets kids personalize their LEGO experience through direct interaction with their favorite LEGO characters, exclusive content, an in-depth 3D LEGO minifigure avatar creator, and fun building inspiration and challenges. LEGO Life also introduces a custom LEGO Emoji Keyboard with which kids and tweens can communicate about what they create in LEGO form, as well as comment on what their peers share. “LEGO bricks are already established as a global visual language that kids understand and use to express themselves,” explained Lowe. “The LEGO Emoji Keyboard takes this personalization one step further with a keyboard of recognizable emojis augmented by stickers and phrases that let kids engage safely within LEGO Life.” According to global research that informed the development of LEGO Life, 90 percent of kids surveyed are aware of emojis and their use in communication. When asked if they use emoji icons, approximately 40 percent of kids said “yes.” By infusing a LEGO look and feel into familiar emoji vernacular, the LEGO Emoji Keyboard helps kids and tweens inspire and support each other even though their spelling and typing skills may be still developing.
Similar to mainstream social media platforms, LEGO Life delivers a newsfeed customized to user preferences. The app encourages kids and tweens to identify and “follow” topics of interest so that their feed is populated with relevant images, challenges and more. For example, kids can choose to follow groups dedicated to certain animals, vehicles, heroes, specific LEGO themes, seasonal programs or regional topics that they find most relevant. Additionally, LEGO Life provides kids and tweens with inspiration and mentorship in fun and engaging ways. LEGO Master Builders will share creations and issue a variety of building challenges within LEGO Life to encourage building and sharing among the community. Characters such as Master Wu from LEGO Ninjago, Emma from LEGO Friends and LEGO Batman will share building inspiration and will appear within the app to comment on member builds. New features will be continually added to the experience. As the network grows and expands, users will find other ways to customize their LEGO experience, such as earning rewards for their engagement in LEGO activities and the ability to inventory their LEGO collection, among many other things.
LEGO Life will also be available through many other LEGO touchpoints to enable as many LEGO fans as possible to experience its potential. LEGO Life is a safe social network for kids under 13. It is designed to be a child’s first digital social experience, taking users by the hand and introducing them to some of the core concepts of a social network, all through the trusted values associated with the LEGO brand. As detailed in the Digital Safety section of LEGO Life, participants’ safety is assured in several ways. LEGO Life prevents kids from sharing personal information, images, or anything that could allow users to identify and locate one another. For example, when a user creates an account, he or she uses the random name generator to create a silly 3-word mix for a display name, such as “DukeCharmingShrimp” or “ChairmanWilyDolphin.” In place of real or facial photos for LEGO Life profiles, users create their avatar by selecting the LEGO minifigure or minidoll of their choice, adding clothing, hair and more to create their virtual persona. All content and comments on LEGO Life are monitored by LEGO employees who specialize in moderation to ensure that it is LEGO Life-appropriate and child-friendly. All moderators go through brand and child safety training, and the moderation team is located in LEGO offices around the world to ensure quality, always-on service. Use of the LEGO Emoji Keyboard replaces actual text when commenting on user-generated content. Commenting is tightly controlled and pre-moderated while emoji comments are post-moderated, keeping communication simple, universal, positive and fun. LEGO Life may be downloaded for free beginning today in the App Store for iOS devices and at Google Play for Android devices.
➡ LEGO LIFE CONTEST – DESCRIPTION: To mark the launch of LEGO Life, LEGO invites you to rebuild the LEGO Life logo and add a little something to it (or a big something) for the chance to win! You can rebuild the logo adding your own embellishments, adapt it to fit your favorite LEGO theme, and give it style and character. The top five entries will be showcased on the LEGO Life app, where the community will vote for one grand prize winner.
➡ LEGO LIFE CONTEST – HOW TO ENTER: Create your version of the LEGO Life logo using LEGO elements or digital building tool. Take up to five photos of your creation and submit them to the contest. Make sure to show off all angles of your creation. Use the description field to tell us about your entry. When you receive a “Success!” pop-up notification after clicking “submit” on the entry submission page, your entry has successfully been submitted. LEGO’s moderation team will review it within 1-3 working days to make sure it fits all the contest rules. Here is the CONTEST ENTRY PAGE
➡ LEGO LIFE CONTEST – RULES: Your entry must recognizable as a LEGO Life logo. If chosen as a winner, you must be available for a call with the LEGO Life team to discuss ideas for a building contest on LEGO Life. Your entry can contain LEGO IPs/LEGO created themes, such as LEGO City, LEGO Ninjago, or LEGO Friends. However it must not include third party IPs such as LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, etc. You may NOT build the LEGO logo, only the LEGO Life logo. You can submit multiple entries to the contest, but only one entry per person will be considered when the semi-finalists are selected. This contest is open to LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) entries, however, make sure your images don’t show the baseplate from build mode. Entry photos should show your creation only, and should not show recognizable features of any person or any commercial product other than those of the LEGO Group. As with all ReBrick contests, you must be at least 13 years old to enter. You can read other rules here.
➡ LEGO LIFE CONTEST – DEADLINE: Submit your entry no later than the March 1st 2017 at 10:00 a.m. EST. If you’re not sure what time zone you’re in you can use a time zone converter.
➡ LEGO LIFE CONTEST – JUDGES: A panel of judges from the LEGO Life team will select five semi-finalists for the contest. They will judge these semi-finalists upon: overall coolness and originality – 25%, most inspired details – 25%, attention to contest theme – 25%, best use of LEGO elements – 25%. The top five semi-finalists will be added into the LEGO Life app after March 31th, and the LEGO Life community will have the opportunity to vote for the grand prize winner by liking their favorite entry. The entry with the most votes will be selected as the grand prize winner!
➡ LEGO LIFE CONTEST – PRIZES: From five semi-finalist one grand prize winner will be selected. This grand prize winner will receive: 1.) The opportunity to work with the LEGO Life team to design their own contest for younger builders on the LEGO Life app. 2.) Shopping spree for $400 USD on Shop.LEGO.com. 3.) Personalized LEGO Life Magazine cover together with an example of the new LEGO Life Magazine. The remaining four semi-finalist winners will receive a shopping spree for $200 USD on Shop.LEGO.com. Winners will be contacted on the email address associated with their LEGO ID account after March 8th 2017. Winners will be announced on ReBrick when all winners have returned the signed Winner’s Certification Documents. A winner who does not return their Winner’s Certification Document within five days of receiving it will be disqualified, and a new winner will be selected.
As you can see, this is a fantastic opportunity for LEGO fans, and not just because of the fun challenge and generous prizes, but also for the opportunity to work with the LEGO Life team. If you decide to enter, we wish you the best and hope you win!
Also, the LEGO Creator Build and Rebuild Contest and the LEGO Adventure Time Contest are still open, so you may want to consider entering those one as well. We have talked about the LEGO Creator Contest here, but I somehow missed the announcement of the LEGO Adventure Time Contest, however you can read more about it on the contest page, and see the entries submitted so far. This contest basically gives you the opportunity to build more Adventure Time characters, and the grand prize winner receives a super awesome, limited-edition Adventure Time electric guitar featuring exclusive artwork signed by the members of the Adventure Time cast, plus some other goodies! Runner-ups will get great prizes as well. 😉
If you feel inspired, visit LEGO’s ReBrick website for more information on each of the contests. And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
