Volume 3, No. 19. October 10,2003
Brick trick
For anybody who played with
LEGO as a kid—or, er, even as an adult—the life-size and life-like
statues made out of the molded plastic building blocks inspires a bit of awe,
a tad of envy (i.e., “Wish I had the time to do that”) and a lot of
wonder. Like, how many LEGO pieces did it take to build that?
That question asked of 11 such LEGO statues at Lake Compounce Theme Park in
Bristol, Connecticut, helped earn a local children’s hospital more than
$50,000 this summer, and the people who guessed the closest won the statues
themselves.
A local television station brought the three parties together, Lake Compounce,
LEGO Company and the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. “It was
a great partnership, a natural fit in terms of working with LEGO,” said
Richard Bisi, Lake Compounce’s director of marketing. The park’s children’s
area included a LEGO Construction Zone throughout the summer, and LEGO built
the 11 statues that were placed throughout the park. Some were specific profiles,
like American author Mark Twain and Connecticut University basketball coach
Jim Calhoun. Others were generic, like a boy sitting on a father’s shoulders.
Guests could purchase $2 tickets (or a book of 12 for $10) to guess the number
of bricks in a statue. All of that money went to the Medical Center. Lake Compounce
supplemented the fund raiser with a Pepsi can promotion, giving guests $3 off
regular admission while the park donated $1 to the Medical Center for each can.
Aside from raising money, the models made for a nice addition to the park’s
ambiance. “If I saw one family stopping to get their pictures taken with
a favorite LEGO model, I saw a hundred,” Bisi said. A favorite was the
boy with his father, where guests would mimic the pose.
The last day of brick guessing was September 21 when the winners were announced.
Ten of the winners live in Connecticut, and guest from New Hampshire won Twain.
But just how close those winners came to guessing the actual number of bricks
in the statues—and, for that matter, what number the winners guessed—remains
classified information. LEGO never even told Lake Compounce, Bisi said.
But that didn’t spoil the relationship between the two entities. “It
was a great opportunity, a great alliance,” Bisi said. “It could very
well be the beginning of a long-term partnership.”
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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