Nike SXSW

Nike Promotional Event and Concert Stage
with Tino Schaedler / Optimist Design

Client: Nike, USA
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Date: 2012

The South by Southwest (SXSW) music and film festival in Austin, Texas has catapulted to the forefront of the indie scene, becoming one of the most influential venues in America for promotion, products and ideas. Partnering with VEVO, Nike used the opportunity to release their new NIKE+ Fuelband to the public. A black band worn around the wrist, the Fuelband tracks wearers’ movements, recording the Fuelpoints they earn towards a daily goal. As the wearer earns Fuelpoints, the band’s LEDs display their progress ranging from red to green. Motion creates activation.

Situated in an unused former warehouse, the design strategy consisted of leaving the rough exterior largely untouched while gutting the interior and replacing it with a sleek black venue used to sell and promote Fuelbands during the day and transformed into a concert arena at night. The design takes its cue directly from the Fuelband itself, wrapping the interior in a black oval of fully programmable LED lamps. The LEDs were either fed with information from motion sensors to register the activity level of the crowd on a red (low energy) to green (high energy) scale, or programmed by a DJ for evening concerts.

At the rear of the building, a new outdoor seating area was created where concertgoers could relax and dine at gourmet food trucks. A VIP lounge was situated more discretely inside the building as an exclusive area to introduce celebrities and journalists to the product.

Project Partner:
– Tino Schaedler / Optimist Design, LA