“LEGO Mario and LEGO Luigi”

When two of the biggest toy and game brands in the world collaborate, the results can be spectacular. The launch of LEGO Super Mario – where kids build a real-world Mario level out of the iconic bricks – has been a success for Nintendo and LEGO and the range is, inevitably, expanding, with the addition of Mario’s brother Luigi.

This turns a one-player experience into a two-player one, and it’s that capacity for shared play which is celebrated in this latest ad. Two friends play LEGO Mario together and their excitement soon turns into a dance routine and then some surreal action as they start getting videogame powers themselves – to the astonishment of a passing Dad, who returns to join in the fun. (Not, sadly, as Wario).

It’s a very upbeat, fun, imaginative ad, one that successfully combines the two brands’ typical styles – family play with Nintendo, imaginative special effects with LEGO. There’s a lot of incident in its 77 seconds, and it feels a little disappointing that the ad’s emotional journey is so flat, with happiness and surprise hitting early highs and never really moving despite the constant action.

On the other hand, that makes it an ideal ad to cut down to shorter lengths for different media or timeslots – with the basic themes of LEGO, Mario, and co-operative play established so quickly, almost any edit is likely to work well.

And at the overall level the ad is a roaring success – with 4.6-Stars putting it among the most effective ads either brand has made. The Spike score of 1.57 is exceptionally good, and there’s excellent Brand Fluency too. All in all, if you’re a parent reading this, don’t be surprised if there’s a LEGO plumber on Santa’s list this year.