Harden Vol.1
adidas
Adidas launched their first shoe with basketball superstar James Harden. My team and I created a unique experience where athletes around NYC were invited to trial the shoe,
while building their own creative basketball persona, in turn generating awareness of the shoe within the community of NYC ball players.
Role: Creative/Design Director
creative management, concepting, strategy, design, environmental design, video creation, editing, run-of-show,
What’s it like to step into the mind of
James Harden?
A world where ‘what’s possible’ is forever altered. A world where players can tap into Harden’s disruptive energy and elevate their handles, dunks and swagger and emerge transformed.
HypeReels.
On the court, in real time, cameras captured the player’s personalized action, generating customized HypeReels which were then sent to each participant to post on social. As the videos emerged across social media,
#GlitchCourt became a beacon for Harden Vol.1, driving engagement and sales as the franchise was launched.
The Process.
To launch James Harden’s first collaboration with adidas, my team and I zeroed in on the essence of James Harden’s game. What struck us is that he’s completely unpredictable, it’s like Drunken Boxing, where his movements are so unorthodox you can’t tell where he’s going until he’s past you, lanes just open up. Harden is not fast nor the most athletic player on the court, but he can get to the rim uncontested and score at will. It almost doesn’t make sense, as if he’s not governed by the same rules, he’s this glitch. We wanted to give that same experience of defying the ordinary rules of what’s possible to high school players from around NYC. We brought Mark Carlos Dayao’s Harden Vol.1 campaign direction to life and created a world that would alter perceptions and inspire creative physical expression.
We created the GlitchCourt.
Jay Cech: Creative/Design Director
Jodi Terwilliger: Executive Creative Director
Jennifer Farnworth-Komar: Lead Environmental Designer
Rory Kaluza: Brand Strategy
Original Campaign Art + Direction by adidas in house.