A Hands on Activation : The Jaguar Installation at the NBA All-Star Game

Architex partners with Imagination Creative Agency to produce an installation for Jaguar at the NBA All-Star Game.

High end events cannot happen without good partnerships. And to forge a good partnership, a company has to have a good reputation and capitalize on that reputation to form lasting connections. In this case, Architex’s reputation leads to a partnership with Imagination, a reknowned Independent Creative Agency with offices located worldwide.

The collaboration between these two powerhouse firms has been long-coming, as the stars finally aligned to work together on this unique, experiential project.

When Imagination came to us, they were looking for a technical partner to source, manage, install, and execute a sleek and stunning design for a full sized Jaguar clay model car as an activation at the NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco, CA.

Often, the Architex team will be approached by a client with an idea in mind. It is up to our team of internal technical directors and designers to capture the essence of the idea and bring it to life. Our goal is always not just to deliver what a client expects, but to exceed expectations with use of cutting edge technology and innovation.

The NBA All-Star game was merely weeks away when Imagination approached Architex for support and the process moved quickly. We aim to be agile and adaptive throughout our pre-production, and this event was no different.

The design hinged on two niche elements: acquiring over 112 specialty lighting fixtures and creating an interactive touch panel for attendees that would allow them to curate their own experience.

While the design was simple, executing it was not.

Astera Tubes are relatively easy fixtures with which to work, but finding a vendor that had both the quantity and the style needed was the challenging part. Our team spent days reaching out to local vendors in the San Francisco area. Ideally, a vendor would not only supply the equipment needed, but also the labor required to execute the installation and operate the show. Dave Anderson, VP of Technical Operations at Architex, finally found a solution in production partner GotLight, who handled sourcing the tubes and the rest of the gear required. GotLight was an excellent choice, not just because of their forward-thinking technical team, but also because of their ease of collaboration and similar ability to remain agile as challenges arose. We’d be remiss not to also mention the audio team with whom we partnered, UltraSound, who provided a simple yet effective system that seamlessly accomplished the design at hand.

The other aspect of this event that would have been daunting for many but was exciting for Architex was the integration of the immersive touch pad. This is where having a wide, highly skilled and diverse network of freelancers comes in handy.

Immediately, Architex reached out to one specific person to get this job done: Alec Sparks. A multi-media specialist, engineer, and designer, Alec was not just eager to jump into the project, but had absolutely no reservations with any of the elements of the design. The only, extremely slight challenge was the timeline: designing, coding, programming, and shipping the tablet from the east coast to the west coast in less than a week.

Alec effortlessly identified the equipment he needed to execute the plan, Dave ordered the appropriate gear for next day delivery, and Alec instantly got to work. At this point, all we had to do was rely on FedEx to deliver the package to Dave in time for the event. With only one hiccup, losing the tablet stand in transit, the installation went off without a hitch. Alec’s design allowed him to be able to ‘remote in’ to the device from his office on the east coast to make changes to the software from afar.

After a challenging load-in faced with a short installation timeline, uncooperative weather, and unexpected deviations from design, under the guidance of Dave, the team created a sleek experience that impressed not just the celebrity clientele, but also the end-client: Jaguar Cars. With a slogan of “copy nothing,” Architex remained true to mission, curating an experience where innovation meets purpose.

Image courtesy of Jaguar.