Blank-canvas brand development is one of the most thrilling projects for any creative agency to work on. So when NBA All-Star Gordon Hayward and his team entrusted us to develop a brand for his new company and bring his innovative basketball training tool to market, we were ready to bring our A-game.
Gordon and his former Butler teammate-turned-business-partner, Emerson Kampen, provided invaluable insights and inspiration for our team to create a brand identity that resonated with serious players of all ages. With celebrity ambassadors like ten-time All-Star Paul George and WNBA standout Lexi Hull, Basketball FORM entered the arena with instant credibility, scoring big on visibility and driving a surge of web traffic to the new e-commerce website. Here’s a look at the comprehensive game plan:
The Playbook
Brand Positioning & Identity
Unlike any other tool on the market, FORM addresses the critical but often overlooked aspect of technique, guiding athletes toward perfect shooting form. Inspired by Gordon’s dedication to player growth, we crafted a brand story around empowerment, precision, and mastery, positioning FORM as the go-to training tool for players serious about elevating their game.
We developed a full brand architecture and guided the team through the naming process, ultimately landing on FORM, which captures the product’s sole purpose, instantly conveying its focus on helping athletes perfect their shooting technique. From there, we established a bold, dynamic visual identity that leaned into street-style photography to reinforce the accessibility of the product and resonate with serious basketball players of all ages.
Go-to-Market Strategy
While FORM’s brand positioning and identity was taking shape, we mapped out audience segmentation, a channel strategy designed to reach them, and a content plan that centered around connecting with players, parents and coaches — creating an immediate appeal for people looking to level up. By tapping into the reach and influence of our Pros for paid media, organic social and PR we were able to make a big impact out of the gate.
Website Development (UX/UI)
FORM’s website mirrors its powerful brand identity, offering a sleek, intuitive experience that guides users seamlessly from discovery to purchase. With dynamic visuals, targeted messaging and easy navigation, the site ensures players and coaches feel the brand’s professionalism and precision right from the start.
Content Strategy & Social Media
A strong content strategy is crucial for ensuring consistent messaging, maximizing impact, and achieving efficiency in production. To guide our efforts, we identified four key content pillars: Instruct, Inspire, Influence, and Interact.
With just 1.5 days of content capture, we created all the assets needed for our go-to-market plan. The anchor pieces included the FORM brand anthem, designed to position FORM as a must-have training tool for serious players, and a tutorial video that educated potential buyers on how to use it to master perfect shooting form. From there, we developed a robust social media strategy, leveraging the captured footage to create engaging posts that highlighted FORM’s benefits, inspired players to elevate their game, and amplified the credibility of our celebrity endorsements.
Media Planning & Public Relations
We rounded out the launch with targeted PR and media planning designed to maximize both precision and reach. Through strategic media engagement, we secured interviews with Gordon at several high-profile sports media outlets to generate buzz and secured earned coverage to bolster the brand story.
The media plan included paid search via Google Ads to capture high-intent prospects and Meta’s paid social channels to drive broad awareness and engagement. Our test-and-learn approach included a mix of in-feed posts, reels, and stories tailored to young athletes, parents with an interest in basketball, and basketball coaches. This targeted strategy allowed us to refine content in real time, optimizing performance across key segments. Within the first two weeks, the campaign outperformed expectations, delivering exceptional efficiency at $5.83 CPM and $0.11 CPC, while generating over 47K site visits with an impressive 5.1% click-through rate (CTR).
The Results: FORM Takes the Court with Star Power
Thanks to a focused brand strategy and expert execution, FORM came out strong as a dynamic, credible brand that’s ready to help elevate the next generation of players. Together with Gordon and his team, we’ve created a brand that’s as confident, driven, and engaging as the players it supports. At DKY, we don’t just launch brands—we bring visions to life and deliver results.
Ready to make your vision a reality? Let’s chat.