A New Movement
Creating a buzz in todayâs era doesnât seem difficult to accomplish. A buzz and creating WOM is what can really make a huge impact in oneâs brand/company. There are various brands that have done this, but more specifically Iâm going to be referencing brands in the world of basketball. Social media is an impactful outlet that lets content go viral, and this is a strong factor in a successful brand.
For example, Lavar Ball owner of BBB (Big Baller Brand) used the names of Hall of Fame basketball athletes as triggers for his own name. This stuck for a while and whenever you heard Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, or anyone elseâs name in the NBA, Lavar Ball would come up in the discussion. This created a huge buzz for his name and whenever he is mentioned so is his brand, BBB. Disregarding his foolish remarks, he would often reference his oldest son, Lonzo Ball as the next big thing coming to the NBA. I donât know if Lavar Ball knew this, but he technically used everyone in the NBA as a triggers for his brand, and whether it was good or bad every media outlet covered every bit of news regarding BBB, Lavar Ball, and his family.
Creating a huge buzz like this reinforces the idea that you donât need to have a big marketing team behind you in order to establish something new. This now leads us to using Bergerâs 6 STEPPS, and there is a new movement of young kids creating self-buzz for themselves. Now there are various terms used in basketball that the normal person watching wouldnât understand. For example, cookies, cheese, wet, and brick are among the lingo that basketball players use throughout pickup games or when watching Dwight Howard shoot bricks (miss) at the free throw line.
When you think of jelly, you typically associate it with peanut butter. Now these kids from New York have associated it with their movement known as Jelly Fam. They use jelly as a trigger for their movement, but more importantly it is used as a term for their signature move when playing basketball. Their movement consists of making a buzz for themselves and it is done in hopes that it surpasses their basketball career and until they retire and create a personal brand for themselves. Their use of social media has done a lot for them, and it allowed them to start this movement. Creating viral videos on Instagram, such as having their basketball mixtape that consists of their best moves is what allures its followers to be engaged.
The story behind this movement is valuable for many reasons. For one, Jelly Fam is made up of some of the greatest youth basketball players in New York City, and in the country. Who wouldnât want to support them, and root for them? Their story individually makes up the bigger picture, and many of their followers are middle school and high school kids that support them on an enormous level. Their supporters are also elite basketball players and hip hop artists that give them creditability and allow them to have a much larger reach on social media.
Their signature move known as the Jelly layup, is what made them a trend and it is what gave them social currency. This move made everyone go crazy, and in return it made others want to give it a try. A lot of social media posts were created, and most of them were attempts at recreating this signature move. Their supporters would also show up to their basketball games and flood the seats just to capture a piece of the game. It was a buzz like no other and there were all present to capture the moment that a Jelly Layup was made, and in return it would be all over social media within minutes.
The various posts that were made gave certain members of the team popularity and made them get noticed by certain college programs. Creating this movement is the best thing that anyone in the sports industry should try and follow. This gives them an edge when competing with others for scholarships, because we all know that the NCAA likes to restrict its athletes from making money. Starting any movement similar to this is what the future can look like, and athletes would not have to depend so much on agents to negotiate contracts when their following on social media can do the talking. Â
















