We created the first LED reactive basketball court in the historic Jiangwan Basketball stadium Shanghai – House of Mamba. 90ft x 50ft of glass, LED panels and NBA surface went into creating a court that utilized motion tracking and reactive LED visualization to train, guide and challenge players through various authentic drills based around Kobe. The court tracked movement - responsive instructional graphics guided and reacted to the players and had the ability to quickly and seamlessly transform into various training scenarios on the fly. Players were pushed to the limits as the court pushed the boundaries of training.

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.

China loves basketball and the next generation have an unrivalled passion for the game. But lack of belief and opportunity prevents them from realising their dream. We reinvented Nike’s formulaic Athlete tour to create opportunity, taking the spotlight off the athletes and shining a light on the grass root players. We created Rise: a real-time docu-drama that challenged millions of kids across China to raise their game to the new heights.

A pinnacle moment in the campaign 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.

Nike’s House of Mamba was the epicenter of Kobe Bryant’s chapter in that story – a one-week basketball mecca rooted in innovation that taught the fundamentals of Kobe’s mamba mentality to elevate the game.