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Kendrick Lamar’s using AR to sell pairs of the new Cortez Kenny on tour

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Your ticket to the next Kendrick Lamar concert could potentially help you get more than just a raucous show. During Top Dawg Entertainment’s (TDE) Championship Tour, Lamar and Nike will enable fans at select shows to use the augmented reality camera in Nike’s SNKRS app to purchase a pair of his new Cortez Kenny III sneakers.

At a random moment during the concert, fans will receive an alert via their SNKRS feed — along with the arena screen — that the SNKRS Stash for the Cortez Kenny III has been activated. Unlike previous SNKRS Stash Spot activations, however, these won’t be digitally buried in secret locations but rather, attendees can claim a pair of the shoes anywhere in the arena. The Stash Spot activation will run as long as there are still pairs available.

The first Stash Spot activation of the tour occurred on May 10 at The Forum in Los Angeles, California. TDE has four more scheduled to take place with the next on May 19 at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston, Texas. The last three are on May 29 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, June 5 at the Xfinity Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and June 15 at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in Chicago, Illinois.

Fans who can’t make either of these shows won’t miss out completely as they’ll still have a chance to the Nike SNKRS app to secure a pair of Cortez Kenny III’s — as well as select clothing from Lamar and TDE’s collaboration with Nike. At each tour stop listed above — as well as Toronto, Ontario — Nike and TDE plan to sell items from the pair’s latest collaboration at pop-up retail locations the day of the show.

Though this isn’t the first time Nike’s leveraged the AR technology native to its SNKRS app, it does mark its first foray into using it at concert venues. Typically, for a SNKRS Stash activation, app users within a designated area will be presented with three 360-degree photos hinting at where the Stash Spot is located. Once someone thinks they’ve found it, they simply tap I’m Here on the SNKRS app, verify their location in the app, and (if all checks out) a 3D rendering of the sneaker appears, allowing them officially claim their new sneakers.

Think of it as Pokemon Go for kicks. It’s part of a larger push by Nike to use AR in an attempt to “everyone and everything” a Nike store.

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Keith Nelson Jr.
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Keith Nelson Jr is a music/tech journalist making big pictures by connecting dots. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY he…
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