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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

If this newsletter was forwarded to you, make sure you subscribe so you get it straight in your inbox—I publish marketing and creator insights on basketball culture every Wednesday and Friday, and it's always free.

Let’s dive right into it…

CREATOR BLUEPRINT

This SEC college basketball team just did something brilliant, but no one is talking about it.

My prediction, though, is that every team will copy this strategy next year.

Most college basketball teams still rely on legacy media and local broadcasters to tell their story.

But today’s attention is clearly in the hands of social media creators.

Audiences trust creators, giving them the most powerful distribution channels.

That’s why the University of Missouri’s strategy to invite basketball creators to their Pro Day was genius.

These creators captured behind-the-scenes content, viral videos and unique athlete storytelling.

This helps the Mizzou athletes grow their brands, attract new fans for the school, and helps with future recruiting.

It’s also additional exposure and engagement for the school’s sponsors and NIL collective.

This strategy is no coincidence because Mizzou recently hired former Overtime Elite executive Tim Fuller, who understands that content equals currency.

This wasn’t just a typical college basketball Pro Day but a multi-platform marketing moment that will reshape how college basketball teams position themselves in the future.

Find your customers on Roku this Black Friday

As with any digital ad campaign, the important thing is to reach streaming audiences who will convert. To that end, Roku’s self-service Ads Manager stands ready with powerful segmentation and targeting options. After all, you know your customers, and we know our streaming audience.

Worried it’s too late to spin up new Black Friday creative? With Roku Ads Manager, you can easily import and augment existing creative assets from your social channels. We also have AI-assisted upscaling, so every ad is primed for CTV.

Once you’ve done this, then you can easily set up A/B tests to flight different creative variants and Black Friday offers. If you’re a Shopify brand, you can even run shoppable ads directly on-screen so viewers can purchase with just a click of their Roku remote.

Bonus: we’re gifting you $5K in ad credits when you spend your first $5K on Roku Ads Manager. Just sign up and use code GET5K. Terms apply.

Use code GET5K now

FREE THROWS

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

🎨 My Mind Color Palettes - A curated collection of unique color combinations for your next design project. Use this as inspiration without having to start from a blank slate.

🗓️ Skej - Your AI assistant that handles all the back-and-forth to schedule meetings, send calendar invites, and connect to all your calendar settings and tools.

⚡️ Zapier - Automating all my workflows to make my life easier. Honestly, not sure why I didn't do this years ago.

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POST-GAME

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

And if you enjoyed reading today’s newsletter, please share it with one friend.

- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻