Legoland Resorts of North America names Cornett first creative agency of record

The Lexington, Kentucky-based agency is tasked with creating work that captures the Legoland experience for both kids and adults, according to Christy Hiler, president and owner at Cornett. Pete Carter, the founder of Creative Haystacks, was the consultant on the pitch, which covers both Legoland's theme parks and hotels.

Legoland has 10 parks around the world. The resorts are mainly designed for children from 2 to 12 years of age and offer over 50 rides, shows and attractions at each resort.

Legoland's parent, Merlin Entertainment, which also owns aquariums, the London Eye and Madame Tussaud's wax museum, says it is the second-largest attraction operator in the world after Disney. 

With the launch of a third location in the U.S.—Legoland's Goshen, New York park opened last summer—it was time to find “one holistic agency to give the brand a whole creative scope,” said Peter Koch, VP of marketing, Legoland Resorts of North America. 

“I think people know the brand, but they don’t know what the experience is,” Hiler said. “So our big job is to help them understand the experience and what they can expect.”

Target audience

Cornett and the brand have yet to disclose creative for the first campaign, but they said it will target both parents and children. “Mothers are always the core because they put everything together,” Koch said. “So they will always want to be a focus area and the core of our advertising, that’s a given.”

Julie Estrada, public relations director at Merlin Entertainment of North America, said that while kids aren’t the ones paying or making the plans to go to Legoland, “They’re the ones who are getting the enthusiasm going."

Legoland and Cornett are focused on doing both regional and national campaigns. The three locations have unique aspects to them that lend well to advertising in local markets.

The California resort, for example, has a Lego Ferrari-building race attraction, while Florida has a Peppa Pig theme park. With this in mind the agency is going to have to “know what the brand is and then understand how it’s different in each park,” Estrada said. 

Theme parks bounce back

The pandemic put a huge strain on theme parks around the world. According to the 2020 Themed Entertainment Association/AECOM global attractions attendance report, attendance at Disneyland went from 18.8 million in 2019 to 3.6 million in 2020. 

The report doesn’t list Legoland in North America, but shows that attendance at the U.K. location went from 2.5 million in 2019 to 450,000 in 2020. Legoland parks in Denmark and Germany also saw over a 55% drop in attendance. 

But now theme parks are pacing above pre-pandemic levels, including Legoland. Last year, its parks globally saw 35 million visitors, up from 22 million in 2020, according to Merlin Entertainment's annual report published in June.

“The bounceback has been pretty promising and we are in a good spot,” Koch said. “We are very, very happy about it.” 

Currently, Legoland is launching three parks in China, but there are no set plans for a fourth park in the U.S. The first campaign from Cornett is set to launch at the beginning of 2023.