Client story

Client: LEGO | Industry: Consumer

Taking LEGO® beyond imagination

The most significant evolution in the LEGO System-in-Play since the introduction of the minifigure in 1978. A multi-year co-creation journey between the LEGO Group and Cambridge Consultants that transformed an ambitious vision into a platform powered by more than 20 patented world-firsts.

Watch the story. Then ask yourself… if we could help LEGO reinvent play, what could we do to help realise your ambitions?

This is not a toy story

It is a story about what happens when a major brand identifies a strategic challenge, commits to a bold vision, and partners differently to create something the market doesn’t yet know how to build. The lessons are transferable to any organisation seeking transformative advantage.

The tech story, compressed

At the heart of LEGO Smart Play is an extraordinary feat of extreme miniaturisation. Working together, we squashed a roomful of advanced technology into the footprint of an iconic LEGO brick, including sensing, communication, positioning, audio and custom silicon. The platform creates responsive, screen-free play experiences that simply weren’t possible before. Above all, the technology serves the play, remaining invisible while bringing imagination to life.

Talking points: What made this possible?

1

Ambition comes before technology

  • LEGO didn’t start with a technology roadmap
  • They started with an ambition
  • What if the LEGO brick could come alive?
  • The technology came later

Principle: Transformational innovation starts with a bold ambition, not a predefined solution

2

You don’t need to have all the answers

  • At the beginning of the journey, nobody knew exactly how the vision would become reality.
  • The objective was clear
  • The route was not

Principle: Organisations that achieve breakthroughs are often willing to explore, experiment and learn their way forward.

3

Co-creation beats procurement

  • LEGO didn’t treat CC as a supplier
  • We worked as one team from the earliest stages of exploration through to delivery
  • Shared goals, shared risks, shared ownership

Principle: Extraordinary innovation requires genuine partnership, not transactional relationships

4

Focus on value, not technology

  • The dream was never about creating clever technology
  • Every decision came back to a simple question
  • Would this create meaningful new play experiences?
  • The technology existed to serve the vision

Principle: Successful innovation starts with customer value and works backwards

5

Innovation thrives under constraints

  • The brief demanded extraordinary levels of miniaturisation, manufacturability, quality, cost control and reliability
  • The constraints accelerated rather than hindered innovation

Principle: The right constraints often create the conditions for breakthrough thinking.

6

Uncertainty is part of the process

  • There was no detailed roadmap
  • No playbook
  • No existing benchmark
  • The team continually learned, adapted and evolved as the solution emerged

Principle: The most transformative opportunities often sit beyond the boundaries of certainty

7

Create what doesn’t exist

  • The required technology did not exist when the project began
  • We had to invent it, together

Principle: Competitive advantage often comes from creating capabilities others cannot buy off the shelf

8

Defendable innovation creates lasting advantage

  • This is a platform powered by more than 20 patented world-firsts
  • Not simply innovation for innovation’s sake
  • Innovation designed to create competitive separation

Principle: The greatest value comes from technology that competitors cannot easily replicate

9

Bring together different worlds

  • Play designers, electronics engineers, physicists, software developers, product specialists
  • Expert disciplines collaborating in lockstep around a shared vision

Principle: Transformational innovation happens where expertise overlaps, not where it operates in isolation

10

Reinvention isn’t just for technology companies

  • LEGO is one of the world’s most iconic brands.
  • Yet it chose to challenge assumptions and reimagine a core part of its future

Principle: You don’t need to be a technology company to benefit from deep tech innovation. What you do need is the ambition to lead

The point of the story

The ambition

Bring the LEGO brick to life

The challenge

No suitable technology existed

The journey

A multi-year programme of exploration, invention and co-creation

The outcome

A revolutionary platform powered by more than 20 patented world-firsts and the most significant change to LEGO play since the introduction of the minifigure

The CC difference

  • We help the most ambitious organisations tackle challenges that don’t have obvious answers
  • Our teams work from first principles, combining science, engineering, design and commercial thinking to create first-of-a-kind products, platforms and experiences.
  • Whether you’re exploring a new growth opportunity, responding to industry disruption, creating a new category, or developing technology that doesn’t yet exist, we help turn bold ambition into reality
  • From first principles to first-of-its-kind

What could your LEGO moment be?

Every industry faces its own version of the challenge LEGO set out to solve. How could deep tech, harnessed to your ambition, create your next source of growth, differentiation or competitive advantage?

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