A digital brand experience
serving fans a piece of the action.
2023
Client
Australian Open
A new way to
experience sport
The Australian Open faced covid crowd restrictions and a large dip in international visitors, so to unite tennis fans globally, we launched a unique brand experience to build a new community, digitally.
OWN THE BALL
We created digital collectibles called “AO ArtBalls”. Over seven thousand virtual tennis balls each with their own unique artwork and attributes. Selling out in under three minutes, the campaign raised nearly $1 million dollars for the Australian Open, a non for profit organisation.
OWN THE COURT
By dividing the official Rod Laver arena into 6,776 individual squares, each AO ArtBall was assigned its own section of the court. Using official Hawkeye line-calling data and blockchain tech, each AO ArtBall was automatically linked to the “plot” of a final legal bounce.
OWN THE MOMENT
This means when a player won match point, so did the ArtBall holder. Winning ArtBalls earned trophy stickers and visual upgrades, and owners could connect their ArtBall to the 3D match-point web experience and relive their winning moment from every angle.
