In partnership with

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

Every Wednesday at 9:36 AM EST, I break down the blueprint for basketball culture, covering industry insights, marketing strategies, and creator tools and resources.

Let’s get started…

MARKETING BLUEPRINT

This WNBA team just turned a franchise reveal into a full-scale marketing moment.

But they won’t even play their first game for another two years.

The WNBA officially unveiled the Cleveland Sirens as its 16th franchise, launching a strategic marketing rollout designed to instantly build brand affinity before the players ever step on the court.

It started with the identity as the Sirens name connects locally to Lake Erie, while the logo features five waves flowing through the siren’s hair to represent both the five Great Lakes and five players on the court.

But the smartest part wasn’t just the creative but how they launched the team’s identity.

After strategically filing multiple trademarks to prevent leaks, the team began teasing the Lake Erie concept without revealing the name.

They even tapped a local creator and photographer to capture the campaign, giving the rollout an authentic Cleveland POV from the start.

Then came launch day, which included a high-energy unveiling at Rocket Arena that generated earned media locally and across the national sports landscape.

The entire Rock Entertainment Group ecosystem also became an instant distribution network, with the Cavaliers, Charge, and other sports properties collaborating with the Sirens’ new social channels to introduce the brand to their established audiences.

Brand awareness was only the beginning, followed by community building.

The team hosted an IRL Fan Fest, immediately dropped new merch, collaborated with creator-first platforms like Round21 and @WNBAArt, tapped into Cleveland’s basketball community through a youth clinic and The P League activation, and covered the city with OOH creative.

That’s the blueprint for launching a modern sports franchise.

Tease the story, create the moment, partner for media distribution, activate the community and then give fans something to own.

The Sirens have two years before they can build fandom on the court so in the meantime they’ll continue to invest in building their brand, culture and community.

4x your communication output. Same quality. No burnout.

The bottleneck isn't what you want to say — it's how long it takes to type it. Wispr Flow removes the bottleneck.

Speak naturally and get polished, send-ready text for executive summaries, client updates, board recaps, investor notes, or just the 30 Slack messages you're behind on. Flow strips filler, formats numbers and lists, and preserves your tone.

Used by teams at OpenAI, Vercel, and Clay. 89% of messages sent with zero edits. Works in every app on Mac, Windows, and iPhone.

Start flowing free

FREE THROWS

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

🚦 Greenlight Yourself - Weekly newsletter created for creatives and entrepreneurs who are ready to stop waiting for a "yes" to have their ideas or businesses greenlit, written by former Netflix executive Jerrica Long.

⌛️ Layoffs FYI - Stay informed about layoffs happening across corporate America to better prepare for your next opportunity in your industry's job market.

📲 Posted App - Scale your TikTok creator content with brand contests that reward and pay creators for the best-performing videos.

The toughest room in advertising. Ad Studio just cleared it.

Major brands just took over a Times Square billboard, and every ad was built in Hightouch Ad Studio. Sweetgreen, HelloFresh, and Tripadvisor cleared the toughest room in advertising. Create, edit, and launch on-brand ads in a few clicks.

See what you can build

POST-GAME

Thanks for reading! Here are a few ways we can stay connected:

🤝 Partner With Me: I work with brands, athletes and creators across their brand strategy, digital media, creator programs, partnerships, and marketing growth. Interested in working together? Get in touch here.

📊 Be First: I’m building Future Blueprint Sports — the definitive discovery and intelligence platform for sports marketing and creator culture. Get early access today.

👋 Stay Connected: Enjoyed this newsletter? Share it with a friend or colleague. Also follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok for more sports marketing and creator insights.

Thanks and see you later this week!

- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻