A Younger Marketing Machine 📺

GM, NFT Squad! It’s the freakin’ weekend!

Hope you all had an excellent week — and caught some of the AMAZING basketball we’ve gotten the past few days. With both the Celtics/Bucks and Suns/Mavericks heading to Game 7s on Sunday, I know what I’ll be doing all day:

On an unrelated note — this song going viral around the NFT space absolutely slaps. I feel both pride and shame at how much I simultaneously relate to these lyrics and also feel like a boomer:

Also, happy 3-Year Anniversary to this shot, which I’m sure the many Raptors fans that read this newsletter will love:

Goosebumps! Let’s get into all the action from the last few days:

Speaking of feeling like a boomer (I am 31), Top Shot announced a new collaboration with Agent 00, a YouTube content creator and NBA 2K streamer. Have I heard of him? No. Do I think that matters? Also no.

A good take from someone who is much less of a boomer:

It’s a simple fact — we need more users on Top Shot. So the fact that myself (and seemingly many others judging from the Twitter comments) don’t know Agent 00… Shouldn’t really be a red flag!

The NBA 2K Community (and the broader video game streaming space) on the surface feels like a perfect opportunity for Top Shot to tap into. Bring in the masses, young people!

Top Shot announced the winners of the Jalen Suggs Sweepstakes on Friday, featuring some… interesting accounts:

Before everyone gets riled up that a bunch of accounts with zero user activity and yells multi-accounting (too late, everyone already did):

It is an unfortunate reality of sweepstakes — the legal mumbo-jumbo usually leads to things like this. But to be fair, there are plenty of other ways that TS can and are trying to drive value to holders (playoff tickets, Flash Challenges, airdrops, etc.). I’m okay with this one being open to everyone (hopefully brand new users and not multi-accounts).

Wise words from @clegainz:

While I don’t necessarily agree that we ALONE have the power (at the end of the day, Dapper controls the supply and direction) — the culture of complaint is thick in the Top Shot community. Do we have things to complain about? Absolutely! Are the angriest voices usually the loudest? Also a resounding yes!

Just remember, despite what we see in our echo chambers of Twitter and Discord, there ARE people like Chance:

🎧 How NFTs Grow From Here

🎧 The “Best” NFT Projects

🎧 From WoW Raids to Rumble Kongs (Feat. Marcus Blasche)

Thanks for reading! — Zach @ The First Mint

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Follow The First Mint on Twitter at @TheFirstMint.

Follow Zach on Twitter at @GhostOfGregOden.