In 2021, there was a “gold rush” to the metaverse. Brands large and small clamored to buy land in emerging virtual worlds, building virtual stores and experiences to push their brands into this exciting new frontier. By early 2022 however, most of those spaces lay vacant, as the expected crowds never materialized, and the assets plummeted in value. Many brands shut down their metaverse efforts or focused on AI.

But Under Armour’s Curry Brand viewed the metaverse as a way to drive a more intimate relationship with consumers and to build community. The successful launch of the first-ever cross-platform wearable in late 2021 was only the beginning of their metaverse journey. In 2022, Curry Brand focused on building the most passionate basketball community in the metaverse. As Stephen Curry closed in on the season MVP and the NBA Championship, we leveraged this high-profile moment to grow our community.

In a world-first activation, we linked real-time NFT minting to live gameplay. For each 3-point shot Stephen Curry made during the Warriors playoff run, winners could mint a free basketball NFT available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The “mint to score” campaign incentivized basketball lovers and Stephen Curry superfans to follow the game in real time.

But we didn’t stop there. Although the NF3s were collectible and tradable, we strived to build a strong community. NF3 holders could select “traits” from community partners and combine them in our “hi-tech lab” to create unique avatars.

The holder could select their traits, but not how they were applied and mixed. The avatars created were randomized, which drove gamification and built anticipation. Now that we have this direct relationship with our NFT holders and community, we plan to include cross-game interoperability for the avatars and “phygital” fashion based on the avatar unique outfits.

Curry Brand had two very significant challenges for activating during the NBA Finals:

1. While Stephen was set to star in the finals, advertising was way outside of brand budget.

2. The audience that loves gamified digital collectibles doesn’t tend to watch traditional broadcast TV, but they socialize on Discord or other social platforms connected to the communities they belong to. And they get their basketball fix in bite-size chunks on YouTube.

Our strategy was to gamify live basketball so our audience would watch the games and compete for digital collectibles while delivering media value. To drive them there, we used the social reach of partners with basketball fan communities. Messaging on these platforms culminated in a live Twitter Spaces session with Stephen Curry. By the time the finals began, we had over 6 million fans on our mint site and over 50,000 players hyping up the game on Discord.

We built a live mint site that was connected to the NBA’s live data link so that in real time when Stephen scored a 3-pointer, a “Mint Now” button went live until all the NF3 basketballs were claimed. By limiting each 3-pointer to nine mints, the experience was both gamified and challenging to win. To capture the excitement, we moderated the gameplay live on Discord, where winners celebrated and losers commiserated and recharged for the next 3-pointer.

Although the NF3s possess collectible and tradable value, we strived for constant engagement with our audience, which is fundamental to building a strong community. NF3 holders could earn or buy “traits” from community partners and combine them in our “hi-tech lab” to create unique avatars.

The holder could select their traits, but not how they were applied and mixed. The avatars created were randomized and completely surprising, which drove gamification and built anticipation.

For six nights, 6 million fans played on our minting site via their phone or computer while keeping a sharp eye on the TV screen for that iconic shot from Stephen. With no traditional media budget, these 6 million fans translated to 8% of the total NBA Finals audience each night. And not just any 8% — this was the young, tech savvy audience that marketers seek but find difficult to reach. We even built a basketball community of roughly 50,000 members in Discord, making it the second biggest basketball channel on the server. And this community continues to thrive as our roadmap calls for interoperable gaming avatars and soon physical product based on their avatar fashion!