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Welcome to today’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.

MARKETING BLUEPRINT

Most brand taglines are very forgettable, but these four words will help this sports media company build their business empire.

Every brand wants its iconic "Just Do It" slogan, but most companies end up with a tagline that flops.

Great copy is short, witty, memorable, distinctive, and aligned with your brand.

That's the exact tagline blueprint that this media company is using, which their CEO refers to as a "slogo."

Front Office Sports' new tagline, "Sports Is Big Business," has become the company's guiding principle.

It started with headlines in organic social posts but has quickly taken on a life of its own.

Now it’s powered partnerships with Hugo Boss during the NBA Draft and Gainbridge during WNBA All-Star Weekend.

Due to the tagline's flexibility, you can replace "sports" with teams, leagues, or athletes, and it fits perfectly for any significant moment in sports business:

💰 Lakers Are Big Business - social moment to highlight the Lakers' ownership sale with a record-setting $10 billion valuation.

🇺🇸 Cooper Flagg Is Big Business - brand partnership with Hugo Boss to honor Cooper Flagg being selected as the #1 pick in the NBA Draft.

🏀 Women’s Sports Is Big Business - brand partnership moment with Gainbridge to celebrate the WNBA All-Star Weekend.

The flexibility transformed this single phrase into a comprehensive brand system that can appear on content, merchandise, events, and even billboards.

This is a masterclass in building brand equity with a perfect line of copy that transforms your brand’s tagline into a multimillion-dollar marketing engine.

FREE THROWS

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

🤖 Cluely - Real-time AI that provides answers for every conversation, meeting, and interview without you even having to ask.

✍️ Pixar Writing Rules - A breakdown of Pixar Animation Studios’ 22 Storytelling Rules, perfect for anyone that specializes in writing storytelling content.

🤿 Deep End Culture Report - A comprehensive cultural report detailing the dynamics of current and future trends in brand and consumer marketing by the agency 160over90.

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FAST BREAK

Here’s what you missed this week:

🗓️ The NBA released its official Watch Guide for this season, and you can now watch the NBA like never before with NBC, Peacock, and Amazon Prime Video joining ABC and ESPN.

🏀 NBA teams used the schedule release moment as a marketing opportunity to flex their creativity with unique social content, including a 24-hour live stream from the Atlanta Hawks.

📲 Instagram featured Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd in a new episode of their Close Friends Only series, with a collection of short-form clips perfectly tailored for your FYP.

🐍 Jalen Brunson and Aaliyah Chavez starred in Nike Basketball’s newest Kobe 3 video, alongside Kobe Bryant's oldest daughter, Natalia Bryant.

☔️ The Seattle Storm unveiled their statue StatSue honoring WNBA legend Sue Bird, and for once in recent memory, the statue actually resembles the athlete. Great job to the sculptor!

⌚️ Damian Lillard hosted his Formula Zero Elite Camp and gave each athlete an exclusive pair of his adidas X shoes and Move Insoles.

🎮 NBA 2K26 is introducing WNBA players, allowing you to pair them with your favorite NBA players in the same lineups and gameplay mode.

☀️ SLAM hosted its 7th annual SLAM Summer Classic with the top high school boys' and girls' basketball players invading Rucker Park.

🇨🇳 Curry Brand is currently on its China Tour with Stephen Curry, Azzi Fudd, and Seth Curry as the athletes host Curry Camp and offer unique fan and retail experiences.

👟 Five-star UNC recruit Caleb Wilson signed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar NIL sneaker deal with New Balance.

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POST-GAME

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

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- Jeff Chen | 🏀💡👨🏻‍💻