How do you revitalize a latest brand when you are competing against deep-pocketed competitors?
That’s what Jaylen Brown is considering. NBA fans know him as this 12 months’s Finals MVP, who just led the Boston Celtics to their 18th championship. But shoe hounds know him as a rebel – a star who turned down $50 million in endorsements, publicly slammed Nike, and then in September revealed his big move: He launched his own athletic footwear and apparel brand called 741and plans to sign other athletes to competitive, generous deals, thereby undercutting the big shoe brands.
To help Brown get began, we paired him with Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor – An executive with deep marketing experience whose platform helped founders raise over $8 billion. The meeting was a part of a latest series entitled Playbookcreated by Entrepreneur AND Illustrated sportswhere we connect enterprising athletes with leaders who may also help them. Here you’ll learn Brown’s philosophy on the long-term game and Taylor’s recipe for successful starts.
Everette Taylor: You are living this dream now. I’m impressed by the way you see it, irrespective of how successful you are, you have a long life ahead of you and the NBA is just one a part of your profession. Where did this recognition come from?
Jaylen Brown: I learned this from playing chess growing up because the game of chess has three parts: the starting, middle and endgame. As you approach your strategy, it is advisable to know all three at the same time. Your opening act determines the way you end the game.
So when I translate this into my life, I put my pieces in place. That’s why I began pondering about ending my profession at the starting. I know it’s a game.
Taylor: Yes, it’s still on my mind. I used to be homeless in highschool and sought refuge at the local library. There I learned about people like Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey. I assumed to myself: Wow. I wasn’t talented enough to be an NBA player, but it gave the look of something I could do in this field of technology. I’m grateful for technology because it has given me opportunities that my mother didn’t have, and opportunities that my ancestors and the people in my neighborhood growing up in my neighborhood didn’t have. Technology has provided me with no excuses. It was a platform where you can truly learn, grow and build a profession.
Now, so far as watching the entire game in one go, I have a vision of my life and I’m mainly working on taking it back. It’s not about certain achievements; it is not about having a certain level of cash. it’s about This is what I would like my life to be like. Every move I make, every job I take, the whole lot I do is aimed at attending to this path.
Brown: And this is the battle of humanity! Because yes, you have a mission, you have a goal that guides you every day, but you continue to have emotions, you have flaws, you have things you would like to do. That’s why you would like discipline and discernment. At 28 years old, I still wonder about this. However, I have a clear vision of my future.
Taylor: So let’s talk about one of the stuff you’re building – your brand. What prompted you to launch it?
Brown: Honestly, I got the idea from Kobe [Bryant]rest in peace. Before his death, he planned to launch his own shoe brand, sign contracts with athletes and offer them higher deals and percentages. I remember reading an article about it and pondering it was bullshit.
I analyzed my very own experiences working with large corporations and seeing how they value your creativity and how they value you. I’ve tried every brand and none of them stood out. Everyone approaches things the same way. I used to be looking for a brand of the future, not a brand of the past. And I could not find it, so I had to start out.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Everette Taylor and Jaylen Brown
Taylor: That’s brave. This is something that many people don’t do because they are willing to simply accept the leftovers that others give them. What do you think sets your brand apart from others?
Brown: Design. I designed the whole lot myself. I used to be just at the factory in South Korea, on the line, ensuring the whole lot was done the way I assumed it ought to be. I’ve done probably near $50 million price of transactions [from other brands] to start out something on your personal. And it wasn’t because I didn’t like the money they were offering. This is because these contracts pigeonholed me and didn’t allow for creativity.
Taylor: Man, you lit up when you began talking about the project. You are creative. I know sometimes it’s hard to make use of this word to consult with ourselves, but I think a true creator doesn’t need to be certain by anything. They don’t need infrastructure that holds back their creativity. So yes, money matters and we wish to find a way to care for our families, but if someone truly embodies being creative, they need to find a way to publicize their art in any way they see fit.
Brown: Yes, and storytelling is extremely necessary here. Every aspect of a brand has multiple meanings, purposes and intentions. I would like to let things breathe and implement them when people start asking more questions. I don’t need to force anything. Tomorrow it doesn’t have to be the hottest brand on the street.
Taylor: I’m glad you have a marathon mentality because none of the big shoe or apparel firms began with much growth. This happened over time. I think your brand will embody authenticity, and people need to see and feel that – especially with Gen Z and latest forms of consumers. They buy things in a completely different way. They need to feel that the brand cares about people, is consistent with their interests and is on the right side of fine.
When I look at some of the big corporations in the space, I feel like they’ve lost that vision. I don’t need to accuse anyone, but many larger corporations have built their firms on great branding and great storytelling and then thrown billions of dollars into performance marketing as a substitute of creativity, storytelling and authenticity.
Brown: This is the cycle of life. Once you have achieved success and develop into that successful, you are attempting to realize it maintain. You’re just attempting to protect what you have already built. You then lose the ability to maneuver forward and continuously break down barriers.
Taylor: Therefore, my most significant advice to you is this: be obsessed with growth, innovation and design, consistently. The moment you’re feeling comfortable – and you do not appear to be you are going to be comfortable – then development stops. I think about this all the time when it involves Kickstarter. When we calm down, the company will likely be dead. You should be earning money, you might still be making thousands and thousands or billions of dollars, but if you are now not creative, if you are now not revolutionary, you are not growing.
But I think you have the right mentality. I am unable to wait to see what you do.