The archive · Business Models · Product decision · 2024
Lidlize turns any object into a Lidl product; the most-liked one gets made and sold
Lidl's AI tool turns a few typed words into Lidl-branded products; over a million people played, and the most-liked design was promised real production.
Lidl
What it had to solve
Every new drop of Lidl-branded items is a hit, with people going wild at each release and showing love for the brand and its colours. For the next drop Lidl wanted another hit while staying a brand for the people — so it gave the power of choice back to them.
How it works
Every new drop of Lidl-branded items is a hit: people go wild at each release, showing real love for the brand and its colours. For the next drop Lidl wanted another hit — but as a brand for the people, it decided to give the power back to them.
The answer was Lidlize, an AI created by BRIA that transforms any object into a Lidl one using just a few words. The promise attached to the toy was the engine: the product with the most likes would be produced and sold for real.
More than a million people played with Lidl's brand asset and more than two million products were generated. For Lidl that proved one thing: the brand and its colours are undeniably part of popular culture, not just a logo on a shopfront.
Why it lands
- The tool removed every skill barrier: anyone could create a Lidl product from a few words, so participation belonged to the whole fan base, not to designers.
- The promise to produce the most-liked design gave every creation a stake, turning generating, sharing and liking into one loop.
- Handing the brand's assets to the crowd reversed the usual direction: fans imagined the next product instead of merely buying the drop.
- The scale — over a million players and two million generated products — showed the brand itself was the entertainment.
What it did
More than a million people played with Lidl's brand asset and over two million products were generated — proof, in Lidl's telling, that the brand and its colours are undeniably part of popular culture.
What you can take
Co-creation takes off when the crowd's work has a real consequence: promising to manufacture the winning design turned brand play into a stream of product ideas and earned attention.
Since then
Lidlize ran in 2024 and is archived in the D&AD awards archive, where it stands as an early example of a brand turning generative AI into a participatory product-drop engine: the crowd plays with the brand, and its most-liked idea becomes the next real product.
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