Success Stories

The brief

For their 30th anniversary, Chinese sports fashion brand Li-Ning presented shoppers with something enticingly different when it set up pop-up stores in Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing and Deji Plaza in Nanjing. The temporary spaces featured a series of different themes and offline interactions aimed at engaging customers with new shopping experiences during the Golden Week holiday and early November. Pico was commissioned to build and operate the stores.

Insight

Placed in popular shopping destinations, the striking look and the entertaining experiences in the pop-up stores raised the brand’s profile by attracting various star performers, internet celebrities and fashion gurus, and in turn capturing the attention of Gen Z consumers. The stores would also serve as fun holiday hotspots, creating further warm brand associations.

Solution

The pop-up store in Beijing was inspired by futuristic spaceships. Its décor and features were successively transformed to reflect four distinct themes: ‘Running Culture’, ‘E-sports’, ‘Basketball Culture’ and ‘LINE FRIENDS’. Each theme – as well as an accompanying array of activities – ran for one to two days. For the team, each theme change entailed a quick delivery of construction services to realise the new design.

The store was unveiled with a ‘Running Culture’ theme combining pop culture with a touch of nostalgia. Running shoe fittings, retro arcades, live graffiti art performances, new folk and electronic music performances heated up the venue. For ‘E-sports Day’, professional e-sports players formed teams with visitors to compete with other pro players.

On Basketball Cultural Day, the store was turned into an exclusive party venue for slam dunk players. Participants could also meet basketball stars and even compete with them on the court. As a finale, the store served as the launch venue for crossover Li-Ning-LINE FRIENDS products, suitably decorated to capture the hearts of children and adults alike.

In the pop-up store in Nanjing, the highlight was a ‘Retro Disco’ theme which brought visitors back to the 1980s. With its parties and variety of limited-edition products, the space became a temporary destination for impromptu get-togethers during the week.