Brand Activation Units at Ball Out 3X3.
JD Sports, KINC and the National Finals at Finsbury Park. Four event units and two bespoke mirrored builds, delivered as one stand for a sports brand activation.
Ball Out 3x3 is the JD Sports national tour, and on 22 and 23 August 2026 it reached its finals on the basketball courts at Finsbury Park in London. Two days of the best 3x3 players in the country, a crowd of fans and families, and a stand built to give all of them something to do between games.
The vision, the design and the whole client relationship belonged to KINC. Our part was to take their brief and deliver it: two Storefronts fitted out as working shops, our VIP courtside Lounge and Terrace, and two bespoke mirrored pieces that KINC had designed and we fabricated. Four brand activation units and two fabricated structures, one build.
It was a good weekend. Free haircuts, custom t-shirts, a queue that did not go away, and young players walking through a mirrored tunnel to get to their court. This is what was built and how it worked.
TWO STOREFRONTS, FITTED OUT AS WORKING SHOPS
The Storefront is our blank canvas unit. Every external surface takes print and the interior is built to whatever the brief needs. KINC needed two, and they needed them to work as shops rather than as showrooms.
Fades N Braids. A working barber shop. Barber chairs, mirrors, a herringbone floor and framed photography on the walls. Well-known barbers cut hair for free across both days, and the chairs did not stay empty. We built the barber counters and the mirrored fittings to KINC's design and fitted the graphics on site.
Custom Corner. A customisation shop. A counter with a heat press for printed t-shirts, a grid wall of blanks behind it, and a green screen for KINC's baller card technology, where a visitor stepped in front of the camera and walked out with a sticker of themselves as a player. We built the counter with a mirror-effect front, installed the green screen and lit the interior with ceiling panels.
Both units carried full external tension fabric graphics in the JD Sports and Ball Out identity, printed to KINC's artwork. Sliding glass doors across the front so the shops read as shops from the court, and so the queue could see what it was queuing for.
VIP COURTSIDE
THE LOUNGE AND TERRACE
Alongside the shops sat our Lounge with the Terrace above it, finished in black architectural cladding and fitted out as the VIP area for players, guests and partners.
The Lounge arrives fully equipped, with the timber slat interior, leather lounge seating and everything else already in place. For this brief we added a raised deck across the front with rattan seating, branded barrier panels around the perimeter and umbrellas across the deck. That gave the VIP area a proper footprint at ground level.
The Terrace, a roof deck with a glass balustrade and an external staircase, gave it a first floor. On a flat court with the crowd at ground level, a balcony over the action is the seat everyone wants. It was full all weekend.
THE BESPOKE PIECES
DESIGNED BY KINC. BUILT BY EVENT ACTIVATORS.
Two elements of the stand were not units at all.
The tunnel. Every visitor entered the experience through a mirrored tunnel, lit from above, with the Ball Out identity across the header. KINC designed it as the threshold between the park and the event. We fabricated it, delivered it and installed it on the court.
The hoop surround. A freestanding mirrored surround built around a full-size basketball hoop, so a player shooting saw themselves and the court reflected back. It was in use from the moment it went up.
Both were built to KINC's design as part of our bespoke offering, and both were delivered and installed alongside the four hire units in the same build window. That is the point of doing it this way. One brief, one supplier, one set of paperwork, whether the piece is on the rate card or drawn from scratch.
THE BUILD
Finsbury Park is a public park and the courts are hardstanding. The stand went in across Thursday and Friday, was live for two days, and came out from Sunday evening into Monday morning.
Everything arrived by HIAB, was positioned and levelled on the court, connected to power and finished on site. Four hire units, two fabricated pieces, a deck, barrier panels and graphics across all of it. Event Activators was the single point of contact for the whole build, which meant KINC could concentrate on the client, the talent and the crowd.
WHAT WE WOULD SAY TO AN AGENCY
Bring the vision. We will build to it. KINC did not need a supplier with opinions about the creative. They needed one that could deliver all of it, standard and bespoke, to the same standard on the same dates. That is the job.
A Storefront can be a shop. Barber chairs, a heat press, a green screen. If the brief calls for a working retail or service space rather than a display, the unit takes it.
Height on a flat site is worth having. The Terrace over a court gave the VIP area the best view on site. On flat ground the only way to get above the crowd is to build above it.
Fabrication inside a hire job is not a separate conversation. The tunnel and the hoop surround were designed by the agency and built by us alongside the units. Same brief, same supplier, same build window.
THE UNITS
The Storefront Blank canvas inside and out. Full external tension fabric graphics printed to your artwork. Interior built to brief, from display to working shop.
The Lounge Fully equipped, fully branded on arrival. Integrated WiFi, 75-inch UHD screen, portable air con unit, leather lounge seating, fridge, Nespresso with capsules and cups included. Available in white or black architectural cladding.
The Terrace Roof deck with glass balustrade and external staircase. Pairs with a Lounge or a Storefront.
EA Bespoke Where the brief needs something that is not on the rate card, we fabricate it and deliver it with the units. The tunnel and the hoop surround at Ball Out were built this way.
Working with agencies Your brand fronts the work. Your client stays your client. We build to your brief and deliver to your schedule.
QUESTIONS
Can an event unit be used as a pop-up shop?
Yes. The Storefront is built to brief inside, so it can be fitted out as a working retail or service space. At Ball Out 3x3 one unit ran as a barber shop with chairs and mirrors, and another as a customisation shop with a heat press and a green screen. Both carried full external graphics and sliding glass doors across the front.
Do you build bespoke structures as well as hiring units?
Yes. Where a brief needs something that is not a standard unit, we fabricate it to the design and deliver it with the hire units in the same build. At Ball Out 3x3 that meant a mirrored entrance tunnel and a mirrored basketball hoop surround, both designed by the agency and built by us.
Can you deliver to a public park in London?
Yes. Units are delivered by HIAB, positioned and levelled on site, and collected the same way. Finsbury Park's basketball courts are hardstanding, which suits the units well. Access, ground conditions and permissions are confirmed with the venue before delivery.
How do you work with an agency on a client activation?
The agency owns the creative, the design and the client relationship. We work to the agency's brief, build and deliver to the agency's schedule, and act as the single point of contact for the structures on site. Branding approval, client contact and on-site direction all run through the agency.
PLANNING AN ACTIVATION FOR 2027?
Send your brand assets, or just your company name. Within 72 hours you have a render of the unit carrying your identity. No commitment and no quote at that stage.
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