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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

Let’s get right into your weekly blueprint for basketball culture…

MARKETING BLUEPRINT

You won’t believe this but some of the most creative high school sports content on the internet is being made by a school lunch company.

This is Part 2 to my series proving that great sports marketing doesn’t need a million dollar budget.

The problem is that most brands focus on their products rather than offering storytelling value to their audience.

That’s why Ordo’s social strategy has helped them become the fastest growing school lunch program in America.

In just one year, they’ve gained 37K+ followers, with millions of views across platforms, plus new leads that are converting to sales.

Their content blueprint is genius because it’s simple, scalable, and repeatable with minimal budget spent in production.

This is how they do it:

Ordo spotlights high schools connected to famous athletes and celebrity alumni.

Their videos use the same edit template with Google Maps footage, b roll photos, headline screenshots, complete with the robot Instagram voice that raps their script.

But here’s the best part:

Because their highlighting real schools, the algorithm feeds their content to their target audience—actual school administrators who are budget decision makers.

This playbook proves that Ordo isn’t just feeding kids school lunch but feeding the algorithm with great content and a sports media storytelling playbook that any brand can learn from.

FREE THROWS

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

👥 Networked - Easily create, engage and monetize your community online with this platform that helps digital communities grow and thrive. To help you get started, use this link for a 35% discount on Networked’s Basic, Professional, and Business plans.

💬 Napkin - Get visuals from your text with this AI tool that’ll take your notes and create impactful infographics, diagrams, flowcharts and more.

📧 Apollo - Find and research new business leads with this sales platform that includes end-to-end integrations to help you sell, scale and succeed.

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FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

🔥 The Indiana Fever partnered with Netflix’s Stranger Things to reintroduce special-edition collaboration jerseys to tease the show’s Season 5.

🏋️ Luka Dončić just graced the cover of Men’s Health Magazine. The story highlighted his offseason training and diet regimen, showcasing a slimmed down superstar and previewing a potential revenge season.

🏀 Stephen Curry is on a media tour with his new beverage brand, Plezi, and he stopped by "360 With Speedy" to have a conversation on everything from Kobe to Drake to his legendary Olympics performance.

👔 Jordan Clarkson is leaving Utah and heading to New York and is hosting a Jordan Clarkson Closet Sale, offering over 1,000 pieces directly from his personal collection, including vintage, streetwear, and designer items.

🤳 Tylil James continues a busy summer of streaming branded basketball experiences, including meeting Ja Morant at Peach Jam (and working out with his dad, without Ja), pulling up to Nike Basketball’s NY vs NY, and spending a day at NIL Camp with Klutch Sports’ Rich Paul.

💰 Caitlin Clark just broke her own previous record for the most expensive women’s sports card, with her 2024 Panini Flawless WNBA Platinum Rookie Logowoman Patch Auto 1/1 card selling for $660,000 at the Fanatics Collect July Premier Auction.

🧰 Nike Basketball launched its Sabrina 3 “Blueprint” sneaker with a new commercial spot featuring Steve Nash, Tyler Herro, and Ausar Thompson.

🕷️ adidas Basketball and Donovan Mitchell hosted their annual SPIDA Elite Camp, where Donovan shared tips and insights with the nation’s top high school guards during this two-day performance camp.

🖼️ New Balance Basketball released a Tyrese Maxey Hero Pack featuring a pair of Hesi Low v2 and the 1906R, inspired by Maxey’s love of superheros and comic book art.

🐍 Nike officially unveiled the Kobe x Barcelona FC collection that’ll launch globally on July 31.

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POST-GAME

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

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

- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻