To build excitement around the hotly anticipated THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE release, Roadshow Films wanted to develop an engaging and funny piece of content that spoke to fathers and their kids.

‘Ninja Hacks with Rob Whittaker and Lote Tuqiri’, by HooZu Productions, is an amusing piece of video content designed to be shared across social platforms. Using sports stars and their kids, it aims to generate engagement and promote the film’s key themes and release date by tapping into a dad’s desire to inspire his children.

Influenced by the tagline ‘be yourself, unless you can be a Ninja’, HooZu drew on its network of influencers to develop a campaign encouraging dads to “be the Ninja within ya”, and ultimately remind them that often all it takes to impress their kids is a bit of quality time spent doing what they love – going to the movies.

In true HooZu fashion, the video features the most influential mixed martial artist in Australia right now, UFC Interim Middle Weight World Champion, Rob Whittaker. As well as competing in the UFC, Rob teaches and promotes martial arts to the youth, as a way of building strength and discipline – just like in Ninjago.

Mark Graham, head of content at HooZu Productions, said the video depicts HooZu’s very own Lote Tuqiri learning some moves in one of Rob’s sessions.

“The initial intent was for Lote to impress his son, Mossi, with his Ninja skills before they went to see THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE. However, the ultimate direction of the clip had a much more powerful message with Lote battling with the physical demands of the exercises, but spending important quality time with his son.”

‘Ninja Hacks with Rob Whittaker and Lote Tuqiri’ was shared on Rob Whittaker, Lote Tuqiri and Roadshow Film’s social channels, generating 190k Facebook views and 45k Instagram views in under a week. The huge spike in engagement demonstrates the impact and reach that premium video content can achieve, and the crucial role it plays within a marketing campaign.

The video content was further amplified with an Instagram campaign that focused on influencers performing fun Ninja Boomerang videos with their kids in anticipation of THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE.