Chinese audiences are inherently responsive to traditional advertising but a huge amount watch online media channels for TV shows. Brands are starting to realise this and getting savvier on Branded Content. Realising it’s no longer about exposing your brand’s product for 30 seconds or how many times it’s shown; it’s about cleverly and holistically embedding a brand’s values on content in the appropriate platform. Our execution was a live consumer experience that would extend the impact of the Nike brand, but more importantly spoke with and directly engaged a much wider group of Chinese consumers, not just elite ballers or influencers focused on NBA stars. This experience was then an integral part of an episodic content series called Rise – telling the story of grassroots ballers who dream of making it big. To ensure the story of Rise got out in real-time vs. extended TV lead times, we partnered with and created custom experiences with Tencent to reach the masses. Each episode had to be at least 15 mins to be considered a show – so we had to ensure content was rich and engaging each week. House of Mamba was the epicenter of Kobe Bryant’s chapter in the story.

Rise was told over six fifteen-minute episodes broadcast weekly on Tencent’s QQ media platform. It included a custom responsive Tencent experience with a social gallery updated hourly, product look book featured on Nike.com and synced with the show itself, a social plan and a series of physical events across five major cities. We filmed and edited episodes on a weekly basis, capturing every moment of the story in real time, as and when it happened. This allowed fans to comment and influence aspects of the show as and when it happened, voting for their favourite players across the campaign.

The experience left an emotional and inspirational impact on the kids. Nike were reaffirmed as the innovation leaders in the category – pushing the sport further. Kobe’s mind was blown with the LED court; the response through social media was overwhelming. On top of the qualitative results, content drove over seven million views, video completion rate and average watch rate were outstanding and the activity generated billions of impressions via Chinese media. But not only Chinese press took note; Devour, CBS, Bleacher Report, Washington Post, Slam, USA Today, Daily Mail picked up the activity – making impact around the world.