Nike took the opportunity to turn New York City into the “City of Zoom” during the NBA All-Star Weekend of 2015. Designed to be a media event by day and an invite-only party for the under 18 crowd by night, Nike Zoom City Bank was a one night only event in the historic Weylin B. Seymour Bank in Brooklyn, New York. It featured a special space designed inside the actual bank vault to showcase extremely rare and original shoes from Nike’s history.

This one night event had many exciting activations such as interactive basketball games, a runway with a camera wall for photographs and a 3D printing station which printed miniature Air Force 1 sneakers. While the afternoon media event included a panel discussion with NBA star Scottie Pippen, NFL star Odell Beckham Jr., Nike Designer Leo Chang and celebrity chef Eddie Huang, the evening event saw the bank transform into a night-club for the teens, complete with DJs and rappers for live entertainment.

Our very own, Spike Brant, was the producer for this Nike Bank creation and Nimblist had the honor of collaborating on this event with Atomic Design, Nike NA Brand Design, Control Freak Systems, Scott Peterman and Makerbot. Our role included the creative design, production design, lighting design and technical production.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the Robin Hood Relief Fund organized a benefit concert to raise funds to aid victims of the hurricane in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief featured a star-studded bill of performers and celebrity speakers, who all came together for the sold-out show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Among the musical acts were Bruce Springsteen, Roger Waters, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Alicia Keys, The Who, Billy Joel, Kanye West, Chris Martin of Coldplay and Paul McCartney. The concert sets were broken up with video footage of the devastation left from Hurricane Sandy and speeches from celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chelsea Clinton, Quentin Tarantino, Steve Buscemi, Kristen Stewart, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Olivia Wilde. Comedic relief was offered by a variety of comedians, including Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Stewart, Billy Crystal, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert and Adam Sandler, who sang a parody of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” dubbed “Sandy, Screw Ya.” In the moving finale of Alicia Keys performed “Empire State of Mind” as the finale in a moving recognition to the first responders to the disaster — firefighters, police officers and medical staff — who joined her onstage.

Nimblist was honored to have the opportunity to work with this relief concert. We designed an environment to support the varied performances for this live broadcast event, which was being streamed to dozens of local, national and international television stations, over 25 websites and even a handful of select movie theaters in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Activision Blizzard launched The Call of Duty League in January 2020 as its second franchise-based esports organization. The League features the world’s greatest Call of Duty esports players representing 12 teams across four countries battling for a championship title. When Nimblist was tasked with reimagining the League’s event model, we were excited to dive in!

Each tournament needed to be both captivating and immersive for the legions of fans attending live or viewing on multiple digital platforms. With the the help of trusted key collaborators, Nimblist designed a visually charged experience which included lighting, visually appealing graphics and video content. A key feature was the stage design which was an adaptable, structural element allowing for add-ons based on event location and space allowances making a flexible transition from venue to venue. Our team was onsite for the Kick Off Weekend in Minneapolis and tour events in Atlanta, London and Los Angeles.

To celebrate the 2015 NBA All-Star week and the new SNKRS app, Nike took the opportunity to turn New York City into the “City of Zoom.” The Nike Zoom City SNKRS Station, a pop-up Nike sneaker store, opened on the corner of Bowery and Great Jones St. in New York City.

The pop-up was designed to sit inside two video walls making it look like a shoe box. Custom content was created to showcase the new app and the special products inside. The interior retail store highlighted special sneaker designs housed in glass cases. Avid Nike aficionados, who previously registered online, could order products via touch screen, with the product appearing in a custom built concealed slot that was then revealed to the customer. The new Nike SNKRS app was also featured during the events allowing customers to view and order new products.

Nimblist was brought in to handle the technical design and lighting design while having the privilege of partnering with our friends at Atomic and Nike Brand Design as the creative lead. Key partners with us were Scott Peterman LLC and Andrew Hildebrand who worked on the shoe box content.