Debates about transgender athletes in sport often unfold online as polarised arguments driven by headlines and misinformation. HOOPS set out to change that.
HOOPS is a social-first documentary series that tells the story of Australian basketball player Lexi Rodgers, whose eligibility to compete in the women’s NBL1 competition became the subject of national debate. Instead of contributing to a culture war conversation, the project aimed to shift the narrative toward lived experience and human understanding.
The central idea was simple: tell the story where the conversation is already happening.
Rather than creating a traditional documentary, HOOPS was designed as a vertical, episodic docuseries built specifically for TikTok and Instagram - platforms where younger audiences increasingly consume news, culture and social commentary.
The campaign targeted social-first audiences aged 18–34, who are highly engaged with sports culture and social justice conversations but are often exposed to fragmented or polarised narratives online.
The project set out to achieve three key goals:
• Reach digital-native audiences through social-first storytelling formats
• Create empathy through personal narrative, allowing audiences to understand the human impact of sports policy decisions
• Encourage meaningful engagement and discussion around transgender inclusion in sport
By centring Lexi’s personal journey, HOOPS aimed to transform a divisive public issue into a relatable story about identity, fairness and the universal desire to compete in the sport you love.
HOOPS was developed as a social-native documentary experience, designed specifically for the way modern audiences discover and engage with stories online.
Instead of releasing a single long-form documentary, the project was produced as a 21-episode vertical docuseries, with each episode optimised for mobile viewing and platform algorithms. The episodes were released sequentially across social channels to build narrative momentum and encourage audiences to follow the unfolding story.
Strategy
The campaign recognised that conversations about transgender athletes are largely shaped by short-form social media content - often reactive, simplified and polarised.
HOOPS approached this challenge by using the same platforms and storytelling formats that dominate online discourse, but with a different intention: to slow the conversation down and humanise the issue.
The strategy centred on three pillars:
Human storytelling
At the centre of the series is Lexi Rodgers’ journey as a competitive basketball player navigating exclusion from elite competition. By focusing on her personal experience, the series reframes the issue from abstract policy debate to lived reality.
Credible perspectives
The series broadens the conversation by featuring athletes, journalists, advocates and experts who provide context around the evolving discussion of gender inclusion in sport.
Platform-native storytelling
Each episode was designed for vertical viewing, using pacing, framing and editing styles familiar to TikTok and Instagram audiences. This ensured the content felt authentic within the environments where it appeared.
Creative Execution
The creative approach blended documentary storytelling with the immediacy of social media.
Key features included:
• Vertical-first cinematography designed for mobile feeds
• Short episodic storytelling encouraging repeat viewing and sharing
• A character-driven narrative arc following Lexi’s journey across the series
• Expert and community voices that deepen the conversation
This structure allowed audiences to engage with the story in stages, returning for each new episode and participating in the discussion as the narrative evolved.
Challenges
Telling a nuanced story about transgender participation in sport required navigating an extremely polarised cultural landscape.
The creative team intentionally avoided framing the series as an argument or advocacy campaign. Instead, HOOPS prioritised authentic storytelling, allowing Lexi’s lived experience to lead the narrative.
Another challenge was translating documentary storytelling into a format capable of competing in fast-moving social feeds. The episodic format allowed the story to maintain emotional depth while remaining accessible and highly shareable.
By combining documentary craft with platform-native storytelling, HOOPS demonstrated how complex social issues can be explored meaningfully in short-form digital media.
HOOPS successfully reached and engaged a large social-first audience while bringing Lexi Rodgers’ story into broader public conversation.
Across social platforms, the series generated more than 2.1 million video views, demonstrating strong audience interest in both the narrative and the wider issue of inclusion in sport.
Engagement levels highlighted the campaign’s ability to spark participation and discussion. The series received over 50,000 likes, with audiences actively amplifying the story across their own networks. Content from the series was reposted more than 2,660 times and shared over 2,250 times, significantly extending the campaign’s reach through organic distribution.
Beyond social platforms, the story also attracted strong media attention. The campaign generated PR reach of 1.8 million, expanding the conversation into mainstream media and cultural commentary around sport, identity and fairness.
These results demonstrate the effectiveness of HOOPS’ social-first storytelling strategy. By presenting a complex issue through a deeply personal narrative and delivering it in a format designed for modern platforms, the series was able to reach millions of viewers and inspire widespread engagement.
Most importantly, audiences didn’t just watch the story - they shared it, discussed it and helped bring Lexi’s experience into a broader public conversation.
