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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Baseline!

Quick question before we start:

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

MARKETING BLUEPRINT

This Jalen Brunson look-alike contest outperformed national sports media campaigns with only a $2,000 spend.

Which is impressive as it came from a new sports betting app you’ve probably never even heard of.

But that’s irrelevant as this is another example of great marketing without million dollar budgets.

In fact, creative ideas with built-in social distribution will always win.

That’s why this look-alike contest hosted by Novig was genius.

Their idea went viral and they only spent a couple thousand dollars on nosebleed seats for their prize giveaway.

They implemented the perfect campaign formula, including:

⌚️ Great timing with the NBA Playoffs

🗽 Activating the event in New York, which at the time—was carrying the league’s TV ratings on its back

🤳 Partnering with The Last Take to host this event (the best and funniest TikTok sports show right now)

By letting creators drive the narrative, Novig sparked a viral loop of memes, reposts and organic media coverage.

Everyone was posting this content from your casual NBA fans, Knicks theme pages, New York meme pages, New York Nico, Complex, Pix11, and even Josh Hart pulled up on FaceTime.

This is a blueprint for every brand in sports culture to learn from:

Make your audience THE main characters in your experiences and partner with creators that can tell and distribute your brand’s story.

FREE THROWS

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

🪄 Magic Animator - Static graphics usually flop on social media, so try using this new early access AI tool to transform your designs into short videos in seconds.

🕛 Halfpast Noon - A creative place for hoops, like a true digital magazine with unique editorial thru a social lens.

📧 Creator And - Weekly newsletter from a former LinkedIn Sports rep sharing insights, tools and resources to help multi-hyphenate creators.

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FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

🗽 The New York Liberty is partnering with the Brooklyn Public Library to issue 100,000 special edition library cards featuring the 2024 WNBA Champions and their fan-favorite mascot, Big Ellie.

👕 Puma Hoops released an "Overrate That" t-shirt after Tyrese Haliburton led the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals, despite being named the most overrated player in an anonymous NBA players poll. WWE also released a legendary "Haliburton Choke Celebration" t-shirt.

🅰️ Reebok debuted Angel Reese’s new logo as the brand looks to revamp its basketball line with Angel as one of their signature athletes.

🐜 Converse Hoops dropped this subtle social media jab at adidas and Anthony Edwards after their signature athlete, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, defeated the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.

🎬 Curry Inc. and CNBC Sport announced a new documentary called "Curry Inc: The Business of Stephen Curry" that will premiere on June 4th.

⭐️ The Orlando Magic are bringing back their retro pinstripes and iconic star as they unveil their new logo and 2025-2026 jerseys.

🧢 The WNBA launched a series of New Era 59FIFTY fitted hats honoring each team’s first season, in collaboration with Lids and Made For The W.

👟 A special edition Kobe Bryant x Nike Air Force 1 photo leaked, as the Swoosh continues its special product drops throughout the Year of the Mamba.

🏀 Russell Westbrook has been named Creative Director for Oklahoma City’s new entertainment and sports district, in which he previously invested through his company, Russell Westbrook Enterprises.

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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 | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻