Sydney-based post-house Heckler has collaborated on a global project with BBH Singapore to bring an inventive online/offline campaign for Nike in partnership with Google to young basketball players in the Philippines.

With the aim to improve the skills of the nation’s young players, ‘Nike Hypercourt’ brings digital content to physical basketball courts with striking portraits of current and former NBA stars such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.

These artworks by Dallas-based artist Arturo Torres also come to life in the project’s on-court digital platform that offers players access (via their smartphones) to Nike content and 75 unique training drills created by the famous basketball players themselves.

To help create and edit the hours’ worth of original content needed for Nike Hypercourt’s training drills, BBH Singapore tapped Heckler to bridge the digital and physical by recreating Arturo Torres’ illustrations using a combination of animation and live action footage.

Heckler animation director Shaun Leong-Williams led the animation team, working closely with BBH Singapore.

“The Philippines has one of the most tenacious grass roots basketball communities in the world, no question,” he said.

“To be a part of a campaign so engaged in supporting and developing this movement is amazing.

“It feels great to know we’re helping provide a coaching tool not often before accessible to so many young athletes in the making; something that could hopefully affect their lives in a really positive way.”

Heckler executive producer Will Alexander added: “In Manila, basketball is one of the fastest-growing sports, yet the city has the worst internet speeds to be found in the developing nation.

“BBH Singapore, Nike and Google have come up with a wonderfully interactive project that can now provide millions of young basketball players with access to some of the best training drills available at no data cost.”

CREDITS

Client: Nike

Agency: BBH Singapore

Executive creative director: Joakim Borgström

Creative technology lead: Dillah Zakbah

Creative director: Aste Gutierrez

Copywriter: Kara Bautista

Art directors: Sudhir Pasumarty, Denise Tee, Grace Wong, Joel Sow, and Lee Jing Lin

Content production: Black Sheep Studios

Head of production: Jonathan Gerard

Producer: Samantha Dalton

Illustrations: Arturo Torres

Post-production: Heckler

Animation director: Shaun Leong Williams

Executive producer: Will Alexander

Senior producer: Charu Menon

Audio: Neon Sound