Whitney Spencer is an experienced creative marketing strategist creating impactful content and digital campaigns that drive business growth. Her expertise spans various areas, including strategy, development, production, . She is at her best when collborating with brands and creators to develop and execute results-driven content and strategies that focus on 360-degree growth. Her approach involves delivering valuable business insights and boosting the bottom line to help businesses achieve their goals. Her practice is focused on the intersection of communication and storytelling, aiming to create purposeful solutions that are conceptual, thoughtful, and impactful.
Celebrating 30 years of a classic film.
CLIENT
2023
HOOP
DREAMS
EST. TIME
MAY 2023 - OCT 2024
ROLE
CREATIVE STRATEGY
BRAND PARTNERSHIP
TALENT ATTACHMENT
THE STORY
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Hoop Dreams, Kartemquin Films wanted to create a brand activation around one of the most influential sports documentaries of all time.
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Hoop Dreams, Kartemquin Films wanted to create a brand activation around one of the most influential sports documentaries of all time.
Hoop Dreams would have been impossible without hoop. But Hoop Dreams is not about hoop. The hoop dream of the film’s title conveys the particular resonance of Aruthur and William’s dream, but it studies what happens in the lived space between any reality and any dream. This year of celebration is inspired by the rich and complex story of WIlliam Gates and Arthur Agee as they chased their NBA dreams and for all the city’s youth still chasing their own hoop dreams. Alongside William and Arthur, we’ll be partnering with iconic sports brands and local community partners to explore the impact of Hoop Dreams - the challenges, the triumphs, and the stories - from 1994 to today.
THE CHALLENGE
Hoop Dreams continues to be one of the most beloved documentaries of all-time; but with the advent of NIL and unfettered access to our favorite athletes, how do you bridge the generational gap to engage a younger audience with the film and the important issues it explores?
THE OPPORTUNITY
Many basketball rims have been removed across Chicago, depriving youth of opportunities to have fun, release energy, and pursue their hoop dreams.
THE SOLUTION
As part of JDS Sports’ Play With Purpose initiative, revitilize a basketball court in Chicago in honor of William Gates and Arthur Agee, celebrating the hoopers at the heart of the film and their continued love of the game; Partner with SLAM Magazine to kick off the anniversary celebration with a SLAM 30th Anniversary festival screening and capsule collection ahead of a theatrical re-release.
THE CONCEPT
BACK TO THE BEGINNING
Kartemquin tapped William Gates and Arthur Agee to identify a park that was meaningful to their development and memories; they selected Garfield Park. We partnered with JDS Sports and Project Backboard (with support from the City of Chicago) to bring the blacktop on Chicago's west side back to life. With six new baskets and a bright blue and orange paint job with “Hoop Dreams” logo, this court revitilization was a poetic way for Gates and Agee Jr. to give back to the community, as access to basketball facilities played a large role in their well-known stories.
Agee Jr. and Gates dedicated the court to Agee Jr.’s father, Arthur “Bo” Agee, and Gates’ older brother, Curtis Gates, who each passed away in the early 2000s and played integral roles in Agee Jr. and Gates’ stories respectively.
SLAM CAPSULE COLLECTION
In With the support of our partners from SLAM, we launched the Hoop Dreams capsule collection, offering the unique opportunity to celebrate the impact and importance of the film in a concentrated and distinctive way. Thanks to its exclusivity and focus, the capsule collection has allowed us to stimulate intterest from a younger customer base, bringing new eyes to the film.
THEATRICAL RE-RELEASE
As part of their Time Capsule series, Alamo Drafthouse will re-release the film in theaters across the U.S. for one week.
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS
Hoop Dreams was famously called “the great American documentary” by Roger Ebert. It’s also, of course, a quintessentially Chicago film. Hoop Dreams turns 30 this year, its story of two young Chicagoans (Arthur Agee and William Gates) trying to become professional basketball players as resonant as ever. Arthur and William, along with director/producer Steve James, director of photography/producer Peter Gilbert, and producer Frederick Marx, join Chicago Humanities and Kartemquin Films to look back at the film that changed their lives while reflecting on what has — and hasn’t changed — for young men and women chasing their dreams on the basketball courts of Chicago. Hosted by Chicago Humanities.
COMMUNITY IMPACT/ENGAGEMENT
Because community was such an integral part of the narrative of Hoop Dreams, it was necessary to ensure that we brought on a community partner who could help us bring the community out. Partnering with Chicago non-profit MY BLOCK, MY HOOD, MY CITY and their #SaveStreetball campaign, we held basketball skills clinic for their Youth Explorers program.
