Closer to courtside.
When Nike became the official sponsor of the NBA, they looked to us to make the jersey relevant again.
From physical product innovation, to the digital platform, to the launch campaign, everything you’re about to see came from one simple insight:
Only a small percentage of the world’s half a billion basketball fans will ever get to attend an NBA game, leaving them removed from the stadium culture, and feeling forgotten by the players and teams they love. Which, if left unaddressed, has real Eminem’s “Stan” written all over it.
Tap In To The Game.
In partnership with Nike and NBA, we updated every official basketball jersey in the world to have a stitched-in two-way connection to the player’s name on the back of it.
Every game day, fans could “tap in” to the game by touching their smartphone to a NikeConnect NFC chip embedded in the jersey’s jock tag.
A personalized web experience launched, giving the fan exclusive access to in-game NBA footage, personal messages from their player, exclusive Nike gear and content unlocks, and even high-heat prizes like courtside tickets. The platform then evolves for each fan based on their engagement with their athlete throughout the season, like a 7 foot tamagotchi.
The Connected Jersey was launched globally by an integrated campaign, where we created a launch film, interactive retail experiences, digital OOH, and social activations.
The ‘sustain phase’ activations then focussed on the culture around the game; giving insight into different player’s personal music and fashion tastes, ultimately helping the fan feel even more connected to the players.
The future of fan to athlete connection.
The NBA Connected Jersey was Nike’s fist step towards embedding the majority of their future products with connected capabilities, and cementing Nike as the undisputed leader in sports apparel innovations. This project was quickly followed by other connected product projects for AKQA.
As the lead Creative Director on the entire 360 output, I was not only responsible for the project’s success, but we also were able to subsequently grow AKQA New York’s Nike team from a handful of people working mainly on social content, to over 35 people continuing to develop several more award-winning projects for years to come.
