Hooptopia for the Golden State Warriors
The Ultimate Fan Experience
Strategic Partnerships and New Business Opportunities that create new revenue streams and embrace innovation are MY JAM, which is why I was so delighted when Executive Senior Leadership from the Golden State Warriors asked me to attend a potential collaboration meeting with the Execs from Candytopia. The result of that meeting eventually gave birth to a concept that had been floating in my head for many months: Hooptopia for the Golden State Warriors.From my time in marketing, social media, and entertainment, I had always kept my fingers on the pulse of culture and market trends. One big insight I took away from the last decade was a shift in people’s desire for experiences over ownership. People didn’t want to collect things anymore, they wanted to experience moments. And as I looked at the success of many experiential businesses like Museum of Ice Cream, The Color Factory, and Candytopia, I began to scratch my head and wonder why nobody had paired the concept with the avid content hunger of die-hard sports fans, more specifically, Dub Nation. Months prior to our meeting with the folks at Candytopia I had already begun to dream up what a multi-room experience could be for fans of the Warriors, and now we were finally going to pull it off.
Hooptopia was my last big project for the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. I was selected as the GSW Creative Lead and worked on everything from ideating and concepting almost every room in the space, developing the experience narrative all visitors would walk through, teaming up with a production team to execute the creative vision and build of the space, pushing our legal requests for licensing and building allowances, down to working with a life-size bobble-head sculptor to get the perfect twinkle in Steph Curry’s eye—you name it, I did it. Less than a year later, the doors of Hooptopia for the Golden State Warriors opened, leading fans through the experience of becoming an NBA legend themselves: starting their journey at the NBA Combine and ending as NBA Champs, complete with a Champagne Locker Room Shower just like they’d seen on TV. Ultimately, it was the perfect way to end my time with the organization, helping give fans a coveted opportunity to be a Dub for a Day.
Role: GSW Creative, Concept + Project Lead, Creative Director, Creative Strategist, Logistics + Operations
Partners: Candytopia, Zac Hertog Productions