Sprite Hoops

Sprite Hoops: Building a Product First Basketball UniverseThe Brief

Sprite challenges us to go beyond launching a campaign and instead build a world. A product first, through the line movement that heroes the product at every touchpoint, from fridge to arena floor.

The ambition is significant. Transform Sprite’s long standing relationship with basketball into a powerful identity that emotionally engages fans, increases rate of sale, and recruits new consumers. This must scale across 17 cities, unify three major brand forces Sprite, the NBA, and individual teams, and flex across multiple SKUs, channels, and environments including retail, OOH, digital, social, and in venue.

The brief calls for a high impact limited time platform that delivers a new brand identity, drives awareness, clearly communicates the NBA partnership, encourages repeat purchase, and flexes across the NBA, WNBA, and Unrivaled leagues without losing consistency or cultural relevance. Sprite is not looking for a campaign. They are building a movement.

The Insight

To truly move the needle, we show up authentically where our audience lives. We focus on Undaunted Thrivers, 18 to 24 year olds who value self expression and actively experiment with culture. For them, basketball is not just sport. It is the intersection of fashion, music, and identity.

Sprite is already part of their world, but we see an opportunity to elevate the Original Taste variant from a default choice to a cultural artefact. In a landscape dominated by digital noise, we recognise the enduring power of the physical object. Every can and multipack feels like a moment, something to own rather than simply consume.

The Strategy: Collectability

In commoditised, on the go retail environments, brands are chosen by instinct rather than logic. The shelf becomes a moment of recognition, not persuasion. People do not respond to claims. They respond to systems of meaning.

We build a collectable design system that transforms packaging from container to cultural signal. Drawing on behaviours like collecting, completing, and displaying, each SKU becomes part of a larger set. Ownership becomes progress. Repeat purchase becomes participation. What appears playful on the surface is behavioural strategy, turning frequency into fulfilment and loyalty into identity.

Designing the system around specific cities amplifies this effect locally. City editions become badges of belonging, making collectability personal and scarcity geographical. Fans do not just collect the range. They collect their city and then chase others, turning local pride into a national cultural hunt.

Commercially, this reframes value. Price sensitivity softens as purchase becomes accumulative rather than transactional. Variants gain narrative roles, and the product itself carries the story. This reduces reliance on media and lets the shelf, unboxing, and collection do the talking.

The Creative Platform: Sprite Hoops

We introduce Sprite Hoops, a dedicated brand mark designed to anchor the entire campaign and future basketball activations. Built as a repeatable, flexible, future proof system, it provides clarity and longevity beyond a single season.

At the heart of the identity sits the Fractured Court, a modular visual language inspired by basketball court markings. It allows us to layer team logos, city landmarks, and cultural icons while keeping Sprite green at the core. A trading card inspired graphic language elevates each can from beverage to trophy, reinforcing collectability.

The Execution

Sprite Hoops lives everywhere.

We launch 17 bespoke NBA cans and multipacks that form a cohesive on shelf set. Retail environments feature giant hero cans and illuminated displays. The system scales seamlessly across OOH, in venue jumbotrons, digital platforms, and social content.

Beyond packaging, the graphics extend into merchandise from jerseys and hats to duffel bags, turning Sprite Hoops into a lifestyle brand fans can wear, not just drink.

The Results

What begins as a packaging brief becomes a fully fledged brand platform. We unify 17 NBA franchises, four WNBA teams, and the Unrivaled league under a single, iconic identity.

By putting the product at the centre of the campaign, we transform a simple transaction into a moment of fandom. Sprite does not just show up for the season. It becomes part of basketball’s visual culture.

Ride or die fans do not just engage. They belong. They feel part of a cultural movement, not a marketing moment. That impact is impossible to measure, yet it represents the highest value a brand can create.

Pure fandom.