Using Lego to explain economic development

Economic Development Winnipeg has turned to Lego to explain the building blocks of a thriving economy.

The endeavor comes from the mind of viral Lego moviemaker Tyler Walsh, whose pandemic-inspired stop motion Lego videos of Justin Trudeau media briefings have been watch hundreds of thousands of times.

This initiative offers up another moving Lego video, but this time the topic is centered around the creation of an ice cream shop bound for greatness.

As the business scales, the development concepts are explained through the voices of various Lego characters in an easily digestible conversation.

“Talent attraction, foreign direct investment and tourism. It’s all these things that can be complicated topics for people to understand,” said Walsh, who is also the director of marketing for Economic Development Winnipeg. “So we wanted to make sure when we put this together this fun stop motion video that it really explained these topics in an easy way for people to understand.”

As part of the initiative, free toolkits for teachers and students are also available to help explain some of the complex terms used to describe the modern economy.

By providing the toolkits, Economic Development Winnipeg hopes to drive conversation amongst the next generation of city builders and help them understand how they can contribute to their contribute to the growth of their community.

The tookits include downloadable plans for student projects that take business ideas from concept to completion.

Walsh said the project was inspired by the difficulty he had explaining what his job was to others.

So far, the feedback has been positive.

“We know it’s been successful because ultimately there have been other economic development organizations across North America who have reached out to us and say can we borrow this video,” said Walsh. “Because it explains the topic in a very digestible way.”

You can find out more about economic development, the Lego video and access the toolkit online.