China is a country overwhelmed by restrictions. Advertising messages, news articles and all forms of entertainment must clear the strict guidelines set out by the government. It’s not easy to navigate the many regulations and provide something truly game changing.

When it comes to experience, this is a country that relies heavily on theory to teach. In fact, books are used to teach basketball in schools. Sport is systemized and restricted to follow the path laid out by the government.

To add to this, it’s hard to find clear water in a sea of overwhelming and messy advertising. It’s a model based on shouting rational benefits at mass scale vs. intimate experiences.

For a brand to create a relatively small physical experience which steps outside the traditional rational and education world, is provocative and shocking. Most other sporting brands rely on traditional advertising to get their share. To invest all our money into a branded experience was uncommon, unchartered and risky.

For 7 days, we transformed an historic art center into a testing ground that challenged ballers to a series of quickness tests. The tests were interactive and unique.

Many fell short, but those who had the skills earned a handcrafted, limited edition ring. Every player was given a shareable video of their experience to show off to their friends on social media.

Within hours of launching the “Deadly Quickness Mobile Game”, the test spread like wildfire on social media. In the first 24 hours, it was played over 300,000 times but only a handful of the players had the skills to pass it. Blogs and forums immediately sprang up offering tips and tricks to beat it.

To date, the test has been taken 1.5 million times.

We intentionally kept the “Temple of Deadly Quickness” experience exclusive, special and prestigious to attract the basketball elite of China. The word spread quickly; press, basketball influencers and diehard fans all flocked to the temple. Ballers came from across China & lined up for up to 4 hours to get their chance to prove their quickness. Their experience generated huge amounts of content, countless tweets & posts on Weibo and WeChat to a collective audience of millions. The experience also earned PR and mentions in top industry and basketball blogs and websites.