A mobile tech tool strand of Reebok’s ‘Courting Greatness’ initiative promoting its fall and winter season collections blends existing smartphone camera and measurement features with augmented reality (AR) to help young basketball players gauge the dimensions of a regulation court – including free-throw and three-point lines, the keys and 10-foot hoops – and thus create makeshift hoops courts in urban environments from parking lots, alleys, wall and fences.
The Courting Greatness tool lives on the brand’s courtinggreatness.com site so users don’t have to download an app to participate.
When positioned between 10 and 20 feet away from the intended play space, the camera provides AR overlays that consumers can then mark with chalk or tape to create the rough boundaries of a regulation-sized court.
As part of the project, the Adidas-owned sportswear brand launched a short film called ‘CrateMaster’ which spotlights the grit and creativity of inner-city youth and accessibility issues in urban spaces. The nearly 9-minute short, with Kerby Jean-Raymond who joined the marketer last year as vice president of creative direction, aims to add a stronger narrative component to the campaign.
The activation promotes the launch of a ‘Question Mid Iverson Four’ sneaker which is inspired by uniforms worn by the US national team on which ambassador Allen Iverson played during the 2004 Olympics in Athens and coincides with Tokyo 2020.
While Reebok has also set up playable installations in partnership with local artists in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Atlanta to add an experiential element into the initiative which rolled out ahead of the start of US ‘back-to-school’ season.
This strand sees Reebok work with local artists to establish its own playable courts and the first of these partnerships is with New York Sunshine Install Team (an art and fashion collective) which that created a temporary installation in Brooklyn using raw and industrial materials.
Comment:
Courting Greatness uses features like AR to engage its primary Gen Z and younger target audience who have grown up as digital natives.
This example sees Reebok lean into the power of mobile technology for a purpose-minded project which aims to support inner city youth who may not have the resources to access official sports facilities.
According to the brand, subsequent activations will roll out through the fall and winter each inspired by different collection and product drops.
This is part of Reebok’s umbrella strategy led by Artistic Marketing Director Jide Osifeso aimed at refreshing its direction and brand as it prepares to be sold by Adidas.
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