Quirk wins YouTube film hack with its LEGO Mandela video campaign

Annnnd they’ve done it! Digital agency Quirk has won the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Film Hack, with its clever use of LEGO to tell the life story of the former South African president.

The competition aimed to inspire the South African nation to follow in Madiba’s footsteps through a campaign centred on the statesman’s legacy. Participants were given a standard brief, a tight deadline and the opportunity to attend the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity if their YouTube creation won overall.

Quirk came up with a video which showcased the highlights of Mandela’s life using LEGO figurines, coupled with an online campaign asking South Africans to add their name to a list, which will be sent to LEGO asking them to make a Freedom Fighter set, so children could be made aware of Mandela’s legacy from an early age.

The video, which Quirk created in 48 hours using stop motion and archive footage (they even used a piece of Prestik for the elder Mandela’s hair), won overall for its “unique and thought-provoking submission capturing the most popular moments in Madiba’s life using LEGO — a format that is nostalgic and appeals equally to younger and older generations,” according to Danielle Melville, Director Of Communications at the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The video gained over 18 000 views in less than a week, which played into the judge’s decision, along with the level of innovation and interactivity in the clip.

The two joint runner-up videos were created by teams from McCann and Y&R. Y&R’s black and white video shows powerful images of what we can do with our hands, playing on Mandela’s challenge to South Africa “It’s in your hands now”. McCann highlighted how Mandela was celebrated by celebrities and called on them to “be part of the Madiba Clique” and change the world.