Sprite NBA Slam Dunk Fan Face Off

Best Web-Based Promotion

Sprite NBA Slam Dunk Fan Face Off
Agency: George P. Johnson
Client: The Coca-Cola Company

Sprite, a leading Coca-Cola brand, had been noticing a decrease in sales among its undergraduate college-age consumers. Each year, Sprite sponsors the “Sprite Slam Dunk Contest,” a feature of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Looking to reinvigorate its existing consumer base and engage a broader audience, Sprite sought to maximize its exposure through the competition through a digital footprint.

The agency created the “Sprite Slam Dunk Fan Faceoff” – a Guitar Hero-style game pitting one dunker’s fan base against the others. Since not many web surfers think to visit Coke.com or Sprite.com directly, the immersive flash game was built as a microsite within the NBA.com site (nba.com/dunk_fanfaceoff). The site allowed users to interject their own creativity into the game by creating an avatar, or “dunkfan,” based on common characters found in the basketball game environment. Users were also able to print out and craft their own paper dunk fan models, or post an image of their dunk fan to their Facebook or Twitter profile.

Each user experience built on the other. After designing their dunk fan avatar, the user could  compete in online games for prizes and giveaways. After each activity, the user’s name and hometown state was posted on the leader board. A multimedia promotional effort was used to drive traffic, including social media outreach, and online and print media.

During its first two months, the site had nearly 130,000 visitors and served up over 1.2 million page views, each averaging nearly 4 minutes per visit. The NBA.com team called the Sprite Slam Dunk Fan Faceoff  the “coolest brand engagement in the site’s history.”

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