Public activations in high-traffic city centers are always a balancing act. You need something engaging enough to stop people in their tracks, but practical enough to run safely in a crowded square. For the ATP 500 BMW Open by Bitpanda, BMW managed to hit that sweet spot at Munich’s Odeonsplatz.
Instead of just setting up a display car and handing out flyers, they brought the actual tournament experience into the city center using interactive sports gamification. Here is a look at how the activation came together and the numbers behind it.
The Setup: Center Court at Odeonsplatz
The MultiBall LED Fold was the focal point of the footprint. Positioned right next to the BMW vehicle showcase.
Since this was an open public square, letting people smash real tennis balls required some straightforward crowd control. The solution was pairing the LED wall with a giant inflatable net. It safely contained all the rebounds while keeping the footprint completely open and visible to spectators walking by.
The Gameplay: Localized and Highly Competitive
To make the activation feel native to the tournament, the Tennis game was completely customized. The digital environment mirrored the actual BMW Open center court, complete with the Munich skyline glowing in the background.
The mechanics were simple but highly addictive:
- Grab a real tennis racquet and ball.
- Hit the digital targets appearing on the wall before the 60-second timer runs out.
- Try to score high enough to break into the live Top 10 leaderboard.
The Impact: High Throughput and Dwell Time
From an experiential marketing perspective, the metrics over the two-day activation highlight why gamification works so well for brand recall. The weather was perfect, which meant heavy foot traffic, and the setup naturally became a spectator magnet. People stopped to watch others play, organically extending their dwell time around the brand booth.
The system was in near-constant use, logging some impressive numbers for a weekend pop-up:
- 760 individual players stepped up to play.
- The system maintained an 85% active play rate, meaning the wall was rarely sitting idle.
The Highlight: ATP Pros Join the Fun
Things leveled up on Saturday when the tournament pros gave a surprise visit. Top 30 ATP player Francisco Cerundolo and German fan-favorite Yannick Hanfmann took a break from the tournament to test their aim on the wall, set a few high scores, and greet the crowd.
Having world-class athletes interact with the exact same game the public was playing brought a great layer of authenticity to the whole activation and naturally created some fantastic social content:
A Blueprint for Sports Activations
As agencies and brands map out their sports sponsorships and fan zones for the year, the BMW Open setup is a great reference point. It proves that with the right mix of competitive gamification, localized branding, and accessible hardware, you can easily turn a standard brand footprint into an active, memorable experience that fans actually want to participate in.
Explore our MultiBall LED systems for events or directly request MultiBall for your event.
