NEWS: CST puts Lego on to computer with new screen-savers idea

Lego UK is to become one of the first UK companies to advertise on a

computer screen saver with an ad put together by Screensavers Ltd, a

subsidiary of the independent marketing and media consultancy, Cobbe

Smith Terris.

Consumers will be able to download the screen saver from the Electronic

Telegraph from 30 October and it will be available as a covermount next

month on Shoot, Games World, Computer and Video Games and CD-Rom Games,

giving a combined circulation of 250,000.

The ad is for the Lego Technic brand and features two models and

variants on screen. The ad also includes two calls to action - a

competition and an invitation to join the Lego Technic Club. Disks will

also be mailed to existing members of the club.

Mike Cobbe, a partner in CST, said: ‘We are treating the screen saver as

an advertising medium. It is the billboard of the computer age.’

Cobbe, who said he was working on a number of similar projects for other

advertisers, claimed: ‘Although screen savers provide relatively low

coverage in general, they do offer high cover and particularly high

frequency among groups that are hard to reach using conventional media.’

The creative work for the screen saver, which uses the line, ‘Get a

life. Get Technic’, was developed by Hill Watson, a design and marketing

services company.

Earlier this year Guinness claimed it was the first advertiser to use

screen savers with an adaptation of the ‘anticipation’ commercial.

This article was first published on Campaign