Nike: WNBA All-Star Weekend Player Lounge | Q3 2024
Creative Direction for a private event for Nike’s athletes, friends and family to socialize and celebrate the W’s big weekend in Arizona. The venue was supposed to feel like an upscale speakeasy/cigar lounge for everyone to come eat, drink, party and leave with some custom Nike items.
I worked with a production team and client to create key features for the event, the floor plan as well as a secret VIP area in the back to celebrate the women going to represent the USA for the Olympics. This ask included choosing the furniture, types of food served, tasting stations, beverages served, recommending local female dj’s and customization of the actual venue.
For the main portion of the venue we created an orange carpet area (orange is the WNBA’s main brand color) with dimensional backdrop wall that included upscale backboards (with rims and chain nets). This orange carpet served as a space to capture guest photos and conduct interviews. We created lounge areas around existing tables to give a VIP booth feel. We covered multiple portraits with Nike branding and displayed branding on screens as well. There were cocktail & light bite pairings, buffet style food options and a branded ice sculpture to house the seafood options.
Our secret VIP lounge included a mini-theater to show a special video tribute to the players going to compete in the world games. We covered up a number of the venue’s features to reimagine their trophy room to feel less for a hunter and more for a hooper. This included covering pictures of animals with black and white imagery of our players as well as archive team photos from previous Olympics. We decorated the bar with customized champagne bottles similar to the bottles we would open to toast the players. The room was filled with WNBA players past and present as we saw legends like Sue Bird spending time with rookie sensation Caitlyn Clark.
