I was watching YouTube Shorts from Lego Masterbuilders with my daughter.

One of them held up a volleyball-sized sphere made of Lego and said…

“My first day, when I showed up at the Lego model shop, they literally threw this at me and said, ‘Build it!’ – no instructions!”

They said: “You can look at it but you can’t take it apart. You need to build it yourself.

I don’t really remember if there was a roll test. We did have a drop test.

They take it and they drop it!”

“Then they tell you ‘pick up all the pieces and put it back together’.

Still the sphere shape on the outside but stronger on the inside, so it doesn’t break as much.”

This is my new favourite story about getting your basics right.

With strong basics you can build anything, break it apart, and keeping improving.

Advertising also has basic building blocks.

Or First Principles – the basic ingredients behind every successful brand no matter the industry.

• Reach all category buyers and grow brand penetration.

• Build Mental Availability, increasing the likelihood that your brand stays top-of-mind.

• Teach people to recognise your brand by building Distinctive Brand Assets.

• Increase preference by connecting your brand to the right Category Entry Points.

Even the most sophisticated strategies or whatever new tactic trending on Linkedin, successful advertising is built on the same 4 building blocks.