Hopper
Scope
- Creative Direction
- Character & Visual Identity
- Product Design
- Campaign & Content Systems
- Photography Direction
- Limited-Edition Launches
Roles
- Creative Direction Lead
- Concept Development
- Illustration Direction
- Product & Graphic Design
- Photography Direction
- Campaign & Launch Oversight
- Merchandise & Packaging
Objective
Create a flexible platform for ProXR to explore ideas that sat outside the tone of its core performance line. Hopper needed to give the brand permission to be more experimental, culturally relevant, and playful while turning limited-edition paddles into complete themed releases players could anticipate and collect.
Approach
Built Hopper from the ground up as a mascot-led creative system spanning character development, paddle graphics, packaging, merchandise, photography, illustration, and campaign content. Each drop placed the same recognizable character inside a new world, allowing the visual language to change dramatically while Hopper provided the connective thread.
Results
The first Hopper release generated strong organic engagement and sold roughly 300 of its 500 limited-edition paddles during the first week. Three themed drops were ultimately produced before ProXR was absorbed into Paddletek, with the character, product designs, and broader visual system receiving strong response from players and professional athletes.
One month after the first release, Hopper moved into basketball. Timed around March Madness, the drop translated the character into a street-court world spanning a limited-edition paddle, custom illustrations, campaign photography, and supporting graphics. The theme gave us another way to test the system: the subject could change completely while Hopper remained unmistakably Hopper.
Hopper launched on 4/20 with the most intentionally unexpected idea first. Cannabis culture already had a visible overlap with recreational pickleball, and the theme gave us a provocative way to introduce a character built for places the core ProXR line could not go. The limited release extended from the paddle into a custom box, cover, grinder, rolling papers, and collectible artwork.
More work
