A few years ago, during the first Internet boom, quite a few athletes and celebrities lined up to pour money into underbaked ideas for web-based startups. Almost all of them didn't make it out of 2001 alive. Since the great collapse, we have all learned to reign in our thinking about what constitutes viability. But nowhere has that been more conspicuous than among those who are both wealthy and famous. This time, however, there is a crucial difference. And this difference forms the crux of a fairly major phase shift in the nature of celebrity itself. The difference is in the newfound availability of direct interaction with the objects of our collective idolatry. In 2001, you could buy a hat at MVP.com and maybe feel a fleeting breeze of Michael Jordan's seed money blowing past you in the shiny interface. Now you can talk trash to Baron Davis, while trying to outpoint him in a contest for who has the best beard. The site is called I Beat You dot com and therein lives a great Shangri-la of contests that can vacuum down your free hours faster than you can say Rock of Love II. Davis, the point guard for the NBA's Golden State Warriors--in partnership with longtime friends Cash Warren and Chad Gordon, former-49er Ronnie Lott and some VC investors--helped found the site late last year. Now, with most of the bugs worked out, they're ramping up the publicity machine. In many ways this publicity machine may, in fact, be part of a greater sea change, one that is all about access. As far as the celebweb goes, this is what is strikingly different from 2001. Celebrity is being commoditized very differently on the web this time around. And the perception of relatively unregulated interaction with the stars is the new brand promise. Take a good hook and mix in a good-sized helping of social networking with the stars. With I Beat You, however, the site itself first and foremost promises competition. As with all user-generated content, some of the competitions are more compelling than others. Some are also considerably easier to join than others--after all, it's a lot simpler to submit an entry for best cellphone picture than it is to film yourself lip syncing with your whole office--but in general the premise is pretty sticky. The user interface is still being refined, but according to partners Warren and Gordon, this can be expected to change quickly as activity ramps up and the relatively small (4,000-ish) cadre of alpha testers are joined by the general public. Check it out and compete. If you ever wanted a chance to beat Baron Davis at something, here it is. Just be forewarned. Growing a competitive beard is harder than it looks. You might want to go after Alba in that office lip sync thing. Daniel Turman PS. Read the NewTeeVee article here.
A few years ago, during the first Internet boom, quite a few athletes and celebrities lined up to pour money into underbaked ideas for web-based startups. Almost all of them didn't make it out of 2001 alive. Since the great collapse, we have all learned reign in our thinking about what constitutes viability. But nowhere has that been more conspicuous than among those who are both wealthy and famous. This time, however, there is a crucial difference. And this difference forms the crux of a fairly major phase shift in the nature of celebrity itself. The difference is in the newfound availability of direct interaction with the objects of our collective idolatry. In 2001, you could buy a hat at MVP.com and maybe feel a fleeting breeze of Michael Jordan's seed money blowing past you in the shiny interface. Now you can talk trash to Baron Davis, while trying to outpoint him in a contest for who has the best beard.
The site is called I Beat You dot com and therein live a great Shangri-la of contests that can vacuum down your free hours faster than you can say Rock of Love II. Davis, the point guard for the NBA's Golden State Warriors--in partnership with longtime friends Cash Warren and Chad Gordon, former-49er Ronnie Lott and some VC investors--helped found the site late last year. Now, with most of the bugs worked out, they're ramping up the publicity machine. In many ways this publicity machine may, in fact, be part of a greater sea change, one that is all about access. As far as the celebweb goes, this is what is strikingly different from 2001. Celebrity is being commoditized very differently on the web this time around. And the perception of relatively unregulated interaction with the stars is the new brand promise. Take a good hook and mix in a good-sized helping of social networking with the stars.
With I Beat You, however, the site itself first and foremost promises competition. As with all user-generated content, some of the competitions are more compelling that others. Some are also considerably easier to join than others--after all, it's a lot simpler to submit an entry for best cellphone picture than it is to film yourself lip syncing with your whole office--but in general the premise is pretty sticky. The user interface is still being refined, but according to partners Warren and Gordon, this can be expected to change quickly as activity ramps up and the relatively small (4,000-ish) cadre of alpha testers are joined by the general public.
Check it out and compete. If you ever wanted a chance to beat Baron Davis at something, here it is. Just be forewarned. Growing a competitive beard is harder than it looks. You might want to go after Alba in hat office lip sync thing.
Daniel Turman
PS. Read the NewTeeVee article here.
Strategists & Planners