Dribble Town & Splashville
- Brand
- AT&T
- Year
- 2024
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Racing & Sports
- Platform
- Installation
- Agency
- Tool
Objective
AT&T used the NBA All-Star Weekend 2024 fan festival in Indianapolis — itself billed as the Crossroads of America, with the All-Star Game returning to an East-vs-West format — to make its sponsorship something fans played rather than walked past. The activation was built to dramatize AT&T's connectivity and 5G story through real-time motion-tracking tech, pull fans deeper into the event through hands-on interaction, and send each player home with a personal highlight video to share, extending the brand's reach past the convention center.
Solution
Fans arrive at AT&T's footprint inside NBA Crossover, register, and swipe through an avatar picker stocked with East and West club mascots plus specially illustrated "superfans," then strike a pose for the camera that opens their future highlight reel. From there they step onto a real court with a real basketball: depth cameras track their body and the ball, so a full-size avatar mirrors their every move on a giant screen. Players assigned to the East take on Dribble Town, dribbling and dashing through cartoon versions of New York, Miami, and Boston while dodging obstacles and grabbing stars and rings; those on the West play Splashville, a 60-second pop-a-shot contest on a California-themed court, racking up trophies. Both games close with a Final Frenzy that speeds up play and raises the stakes, while an overhead jumbotron tracks the score and clock and cuts to a digital Paul George hyping the crowd. Shortly after the buzzer, players get a text with their own edited highlight video to share.
- 1
Visitors enter the AT&T zone inside NBA Crossover, a fan festival at NBA All-Star Weekend, and register at a kiosk that links their session to a personal highlight video sent by text after play. They then face a character-select screen with a cloud motif, swiping in mid-air (no touch) through conference mascots and specially drawn 'superfan' characters to pick an avatar shared by both games, Dribble Town and Splashville.
- 2
After picking a character, the player is prompted to strike a pose, which becomes the opening frame of their personalized recap video.
- 3
On the floor, depth cameras and motion tracking follow the player's body and a real basketball in real time, driving a life-size digital avatar on a big screen. A multi-screen jumbotron overhead shows the timer, score, and branded marquees, and routes the player between the two game worlds.
- 4
In Dribble Town, the Eastern Conference game, the player dribbles a real ball while their avatar runs through Eastern-city backdrops (New York, Miami, Boston), dodging obstacles and collecting stars and rings toward a goal of reaching the All-Star Weekend with as many rings as possible. A digital Paul George reacts live on the jumbotron, calling out streaks and high scores based on the player's performance, and the round closes with a Final Frenzy burst of faster pace, denser obstacles, and bigger scoring swings.
- 5
In Splashville, the Western Conference game, the player shoots a real ball pop-a-shot style on a Los Angeles-styled virtual court, sinking baskets within a 60-second timer to collect trophies in a cooperative (not solo) scoring format, with each make triggering shader-driven visual reactions across the ball and environment. Its own Final Frenzy sends scoring hot-spots moving around the screen, forcing players to hunt for a new shot location on the fly.
- 6
Right after playing, each participant receives a personal highlight video by text for the game(s) they played, opening with their avatar transformation and pose before cutting into a 90s-music-video-style edit of their best in-game moments.
- 7
The same AT&T footprint offers two more branded touchpoints: an interactive LED mural co-created with artist Dave Arcade, where visitors add a digital brush stroke to a shared East-vs-West artwork (also reachable at home via Snapchat AR filters) with a daily timelapse as a shareable artifact; and Shai's Shop, where spinning a physical basketball in front of a virtual Shai Gilgeous-Alexander unlocks a piece of personalized merch, alongside scheduled meet-and-greets with Paul George, Gilgeous-Alexander, and AT&T Slam Dunk participants.
