Situation: Over 1.5 billion people celebrate Lunar New Year around the world, and that includes over 22 million Asian-Americans. San Francisco has one of the largest populations and is home to the oldest Chinatown in the country, and home to T-Mobile’s Signature Store with large LED screens throughout the modern two-story flagship environment.

Brief: Create a unique digital in-store experience to celebrate the Lunar New Year with customers and communities, while utilizing the tech-advanced retail environment to surprise and delight.

Objectives: The goal was to create a compelling in-store experience that is meaningful and connected to customers and every generation of the community. We wanted to captivate visitors by reimagining traditional symbols and characters to tell an immersive brand story.

The idea was to create an artful experience using animations where traditional symbols, icons, and characters meet modern design and pop culture in order to connect with all generations in a cutting-edge in-store takeover. Each visual design element, such as lanterns, envelopes, plum blossoms, and coins was carefully crafted and composed to authentically express good luck, fortune, and hope for the New Year.

To honor the Year of the Rabbit, a custom character was developed to hop in and out of digital screens throughout the store, spreading playful energy all around while incorporating the T-Mobile brand into the experience.

We wanted the holiday experience to work together in harmony and orchestrated every pixel on each of the large screens and LED columns at T-Mobile’s technically advanced Signature Store in San Francisco to create an unforgettable holiday celebration for all.

Over 1.5 billion people celebrate Lunar New Year around the world, and that includes over 22 million Asian Americans. San Francisco has one of the largest populations and is home to the oldest Chinatown in the country, and also home to T-Mobile’s most technically advanced Signature Store. While Lunar New Year is typically celebrated by the local Asian American community, our goal was for people from every background to experience the magic of the Year of the Rabbit.

Throughout the entire process, from ideation to execution, we teamed up with cultural insiders and stakeholders who are part of the community to ensure authenticity and foster creativity, while building a unique brand experience.

A team of designers, VFX artists, and developers crafted unique symbols, compelling animations, character studies, and typography treatments. This resulted in a mesmerizing showcase of bold 3D icons symbolizing good fortune, luck, and hope for the New Year in one of the most technically advanced retail environments. All assets were designed, animated, and sized to be displayed on multiple large HD LED screens composed of vertical, horizontal, and 360° configurations filling the Signature Store.

Lunar New Year falls on January 22, 2023, however, we wanted to build anticipation and begin the experience in the days leading up to the celebration. This meant having all animations ready for in-store testing and installation in the beginning of January.

While T-Mobile’s San Francisco Signature Store was the “main event” of the Lunar New Year celebration, we deployed the creative to large digital in-store screens in 250 T-Mobile fleet stores around San Francisco, where the Asian-American population is highly represented.

Ultimately, our goal was to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit with the community and deliver the most cohesive brand experience. T-Mobile’s San Francisco Signature Store turned into a fully immersive expression where 50 Million pixels were telling the story of the Lunar New Year during the holidays. The launch was spectacularly received by T-Mobile customers and employees alike, including a special shout-out from T-Mobile’s CMO that praised the design and thoughtful attention to detail in crafting an authentic experience.

The deployment of the experience for several weeks in 250 T-Mobile stores around San Francisco led to tens of thousands of direct customer impressions that have amplified T-Mobile’s lasting commitment to celebrating diversity, equity, and inclusion.