Sprite’s Summer of Drops

Celebrating hip-hop’s 50th anniversary by fusing culture, creativity, and technology into an interactive digital experience. Partnering with iconic and emerging artists like Nas, Rakim, Latto, and GloRilla, the campaign invited fans to unlock exclusive prizes inspired by music, fashion, and art.

The Challenge

The campaign’s microsite needed to feel engaging, dynamic, and culturally relevant.

• Showcase live “drops” for limited-edition prizes.

• Drive social engagement and sharing.

• Educate users about how the campaign worked while keeping them excited for future drops.

• Balance high energy and hype with clarity and usability, making sure the site felt fast, exciting, and easy to navigate.

My Role

As the UX Designer on the VML design team, I collaborated with Sprite’s marketing group to design a responsive microsite that captured the energy of hip-hop and sneaker drop culture, delivering a real-time, social, and shareable experience that kept fans engaged.

I led UX design across the campaign microsite, including:

• Structuring the site’s information architecture around a central Feed, which encompassed live drops, upcoming drops, and promotional content.

• Designing detail pages for individual Drops, an About page to tell the campaign story, and a How It Works page to onboard new users.

• Creating intuitive user flows for drop notifications and entries.

• Collaborating with visual designers and developers to ensure the experience matched Sprite’s creative direction and timing.

Process

Discovery & Alignment — Collaborated with Sprite’s marketing and brand teams to define goals, audience behaviors, and key performance metrics. The design approach was guided by the dual priorities of brand storytelling and measurable engagement.

Experience Mapping & Wireframes — Mapped user journeys across three campaign states—pre-drop, live drop, and post-drop—to design a feed experience that adapted dynamically over time. The modular structure made it easy to update content as new drops launched.

Interaction Design

• Real-time countdown timers to build anticipation.

• Social share tools to amplify engagement.

• Mobile-first designs optimized for quick and convenient access.

Testing & Refinement — Internal feedback led to refined navigation and simplified flows that maximized participation.

Impact

• Created a seamless, mobile-first campaign experience that blended Sprite branding with hip-hop culture and digital fandom.

• Supported multiple high-traffic drops without usability issues.

• Increased social sharing and repeat engagement throughout the campaign window.

• Helped Sprite reinforce its relevance with Gen Z and millennial audiences through an authentic celebration of music, fashion, and culture.

Learnings

• Close collaboration between creative, marketing, and technical teams ensured alignment across fast-moving phases.

• Balancing hype and usability is key to maintaining excitement without confusion.