Together with

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

As you know, this is your weekly blueprint for basketball culture:

💡 Brand Insights

💻 Marketing Strategy

🧰 Creator Tools

📓 Business Resources

Let’s break it down…

MARKETING BLUEPRINT

Devin Booker is out here breaking your social media algorithm.

Plus—he’s giving away free shoes while stopping your scroll!

The interesting thing is that an Instagram feed post is an athlete's most valuable promotional real estate for themselves and their partners.

But—Book has been teaching his social media masterclass using a simple yet genius Instagram Story strategy.

And if you’ve paid attention, Instagram’s CEO said IG Stories are the best way to deepen your connection with your followers

Here’s how Book’s doing it:

He’s turned his sneaker colorway launches into Finders Keepers treasure hunts.

He’s done this in cities like Paris, Phoenix, and even in the deserts throughout Arizona.

Fans see the story post, race to claim them, and the first one earns the pair—leaving behind millions of organic engagements, viral shares, and reposts from every major sneaker and basketball media outlet.

Here’s why it works:

Book’s Instagram Story strategy creates a 24 hour exclusivity window.

The scarcity drives social demand and these moments feel like personal gifts to his biggest fans.

The best part is that Book executes this marketing program directly on his own channel.

Meaning—no paid ads, no retailers, and no media partners.

Devin Booker is showing us the blueprint on how to successfully use Instagram Stories to promote your products AND create an unforgettable fan moment with minimal production costs.

FREE THROWS

Sharing the tools and resources that I’m using this week:

📧 Sponcon Sports - A free, weekly newsletter teaching 2,200+ marketers about sponsored content strategy in the sports industry.

✅ Nike’s Future - In this exclusive interview with Fortune, Nike's new CEO, Elliott Hill, shares his vision for the iconic sportswear company's future and its plans to reassert the brand’s dominance.

🛜 Archive Websites - Use this tool, which acts as a time capsule for web pages and gated-media articles. It essentially takes a 'snapshot' of a webpage that will always be online, even if the original page disappears or is gated.

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FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

🚫 Jordan Brand still hasn’t activated its social accounts and, as part of the Banned 1 campaign, banned the shoes on Michael Jordan’s statue at the Bulls’ United Center and unsuccessfully tried to ban the Jumpman logo on NBA jerseys.

📚 Caitlin Clark had a significant week as her foundation announced a partnership with Scholastic to donate 22,000 books to under-resourced schools, and Nike confirmed that a Caitlin Clark signature sneaker is on the way.

🥇 Netflix released the official trailer for "Court of Gold," a six-part series premiering on February 18th that documents the Paris Olympics basketball tournament featuring Team USA, France, Serbia, and Canada.

🇫🇷 The San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers were in Paris for two regular season NBA games, and as part of Wemby's homecoming, he debuted a new basketball court for the community.

📈 Togethxr’s “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” t-shirt had generated $3 million in revenue as of June 2024 and has since more than doubled.

👟 WNBA's Cameron Brink starred in a new lifestyle campaign promoting the New Balance 740 sneaker.

🧃 Sprite and Anthony Edwards continued their collaboration with Kevin Garnett in their latest campaign featuring the two Minnesota legends.

💰 Five-star high school basketball recruit Nate Ament partnered with the NIL platform Fanstake to give fans a voice and an opportunity to help fund his college decision.

🏝️ The University of Hawaii Women's Basketball team debuts fan-designed uniforms after hosting a contest that received over 125 submissions.

🐢 Puma teamed up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for a limited edition collection featuring four collectible colorways from LaMelo Ball’s signature line.

🏈 Pringles is giving a sneak peek of its 2025 Super Bowl commercials, one of which features James Harden paying tribute to brand mascot Mr. P’s iconic handlebar mustache.

POST-GAME

Thanks for reading—I’ll see you back here next week!

- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻

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