February 12-20th, 2018
In this case study, where we talk about the challenges and solutions about how we serviced various events, we will address one of the coolest branding events we’ve ever serviced: the Nike personalized sneaker party at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.
Yeah, we know, you want to know, did we get to meet LeBron? Kobe? Curry? Well, not directly, but there were some pretty swanky statues of them at this major Nike branding event that we were tasked with keeping wineglass-free all night. Does that come close?
Maybe not. But we did actually rub elbows with quite a few A-listers who mingled with a couple of thousand people who floated through a three-story building near Staples Center that previously had been vacant for some time. During the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, Nike rented this cobweb-filled, black windowed building in Downtown Los Angeles, and PopUP CleanUP deployed four crew members for four days to prepare the building for the festivities, five people for the three days of the event, and three for the final two days of cleaning.
We still refer to it as the Epic Clean.
On the 16th and 18th, we spent from 8 am until 12 am, and on the 17th, the date of the main event, from 8am until 3am prepping all three floors for the influx of guests, then manning the restrooms, cleaning the vinyl flooring which scuffed when people stepped on it, wiping fingerprints off the plexiglass displays, clearing glasses off the expensive statues of athletes, preventing the garbage from overflowing, and discarding leather and cloth scraps from special promo booths that allowed people to create their own Nike hat or shoes.
Yeah, we really wanted to make our own shoes too. That was pretty cool.
The primary challenge involved with this assignment was the failure of the marketing company to have a plumber inspect the building. (It always seems to come down to the plumbing. See our blog Case Study: Oscars Swag Party) Because the building had been uninhabited for so long, the pipes were—how shall we put it?—less than accommodating. Although we purchased and provided a snake for the hosts, we were unable to prevent backlogs since we are, after all, a cleaning company and not certified or educated in plumbing.
We also had to hire an outside vendor to remove black paint from the windows which required special chemicals and was much more involved than your typical squeegee session. (Take it from us: it’s these finer points that can make or break how good the cleaning job looks when you prep a space.)
Word from the wise: it’s impossible to hear walkie-talkies (provided to us from the marketing company who organized the event) when the venue is pulsing with a fusion of loud music and lots of guests jockeying their voices to be heard above it. Lesson learned. A better system would be to utilize cell phones and texting since people can feel the vibrations on their body even if they can’t hear it ringing.
That said, we felt privileged to be entrusted by Game 7 Marketing to service Nike and the NBA, and were pleased that the event was considered an overall success.
If you or your company are planning a multi-faceted product launch or major party, PopUP CleanUP is well equipped to service your event cleaning needs. You make the moments memorable. We take care of the rest!
