26th April. FIBA announced that, unlike the rest of Team GB, the British Basketball team had to win a series of games to earn their spot at the 2012 Olympics. Even though we’re the host nation! Outrage. In response we created…

Here’s the story… in moving pictures

We needed to get basketball fans going to the GB games in a bid to inspire them and get them into the Olympics. A small and dedicated team of us got underway. Doing everything from branding to design to seeding. I worked closely with my Creative Director Andre to find Sam and Sillky. Sam was a massive British Basketball fan. Sillky was an Hypeman and MC. We had hardly any money, but together we begged, borrowed and sweated blood to spread the word: Getting our team in our Olympics by any means necessary. And do you know what? It worked. GB qualified at the top of their group. In your face FIBA.

And here’s the full documentary

Look out for nice little touches like Sillky wearing a POPS Tshirt when he speaks to Pop’s parents. We got in talented director Tomas Leach. He was a basketball fan as well and became and integral part of the team. I creatively oversaw, developed the brand and designed a fair bit of the work on a day to day basis. We were busy.

Online

At the same time we built up a following online with backbritishbasketball.com – a blog packed with editorial content, loads of videos on YouTube, a Facebook group and Twitter.

Spreading the word

Word quickly spread as this unique campaign made waves in and out of the basketball community. Channel 4 even interviewed Sam and Sillky (If you listen carefully you can hear me sipping on a beer behind the camera, big grin on my face). And The Wall St Journal interviewed Sam and Andre.

The Balldogs

We also created an unofficial noise making fan club. The BallDogs.
People who were awarded free tickets in exchange for noise at the games. And we created an atmosphere never before seen at GB games.

Merchandise

We made and sold our own Tshirts. Online and at games.

Chanting loud

While making the film we created loads of British slang and chants for the games – the biggest of the summer being the ‘Deng Deng Deng Deng Deng Deng’ chant. Which was created on the spot by my brother of all people, during filming. You could even hear this chant during the Channel 4 broadcasts!

We made flyers, chants sheets, posters and managed to wrangle some free time on a digital billboard. And Sam and Sillky got flyers into shops and posters – well just about everywhere.

Music

We even created our own music for the campaign.
Beatnik To The Future – Back Em by backbritishbasketball

All of us worked so hard on this it’s difficult to show everything that went into this project. It was testing at times. But we all had a love for the project and was gutted when it came to an end.The games were electric, the Dog pound were awesome and it converted me (and my wife) to British basketball.