Anyone remember POG’s?
They were, for a very short time, the early 90’s version of hot collectable. Cardboard tokens that stood for “Passion fruit, Orange and Guava” they popped up everywhere, including in sports, as the next must have, in the line of Beanie Babies Pokémon cards and the like. They were literally at one point the cardboard inserts in milk bottle caps that you could pull out, and the collectable grew from there. Teams, including when I was at the Sixers, quickly created POGS for giveaways, and because of their limited-edition scarcity, there was a secondary market that drove up value…until people went on to something else.
Now the collectable market, both tactile…cards, ticket stubs, sneakers, artwork…and now digital and virtual has continued to spike in the past year with little sign of slowing down, all driven by market price, scarcity, and consumer demand. Even Pokémon cards have made a comeback, but not yet POGS. Not yet anyway.
I thought of the POGS spike while following the rise of NBA Top Shot and all things NFT this past week. For those who still don’t know, NFTs — nonfungible tokens — are digital collectibles that use blockchain technology as authentication. An NFT can take any form, but it usually consists of an image or video file, sometimes with a physical object attached, verified with a digital signature on a blockchain. NFTs answer a key question that has always plagued the collectable world, the need for authentication in an increasingly digital world, permanently linking a digital file to its creator. It makes digital collectibles valuable and therefore, sellable.
There have been a number of worthwhile explanations this week to check out, from why the value of LeBron James’ dunk has spiked for Top Shot, to a primer on NFT’s tied to video game highlights, to the what’s next and the amount of money Sorare has raised to look at the next market away from the NBA and into sports like soccer, to even how this ties to the artworld. All worthwhile studies.
For those interested in NFT primers, check out Morning Brew.
One of the issues in getting one’s head around digital collectibles vs hard goods is the ability to touch and feel. It is one thing that I have struggled with, because you don’t, or potentially don’t really own the intellectual property. You can have it on a phone or a screen, but it appears in the cloud, not on your desk. However, colleague Corey Leff pointed out what the transition could look like for collectibles as art, something more tactile, through a link from another disruptor, Vasu Kulkarni. Vasu tweeted a picture of a Kobe Bryant digital image that is very much art, and that can be actually framed and mounted, almost like what black like music posters used to be. It’s not a highlight which you make like for a few and grow tired of…the digital image of Kobe frozen in time is beautiful, and it sits in a digital frame, blending the worlds of what us old people may see as an item with the technology and buzz of digital imagery. That I get.
And it’s a lot easier to see and touch value, even if it’s a POG. Also take a listen to Jeff Eisenband’s podcast Topshot and Dapper Labs as well.
Another aha moment from the past week came after Sportico’s virtual conference on all things SPAC. While there was a lot to learn again, the more interesting talk came in a 15-minute taped conversation between Brendan Coffey and NFL veteran, now Super Bowl champ Ndamukong Suh. I have always been intrigued by Suh’s off field interests but never heard him speak about why and how he works with companies and invests. You can watch the while 15 minutes here, but some cool pieces to listen for.
Why do investors have athletes involved in deals? “We think differently, have another point of view. I feel that gives at least me a contribution well beyond my name.”
“I prefer to be an advisor. I still have a fulltime job & both time management & flexibility are things that make my investment partnerships work.”
Lastly…pick what you like. “I love food and the business around it.” Why Suh sought to invest in the restaurant business with Rockets owner and chain food magnate Tilman Fertitta, and how he has geared other investments and involvement to the culinary space.
It’s a really great watch on the athlete as investor, proving it doesn’t all have to be about content creation and flash and dash. Most of what Suh talked about wasn’t sexy businesses here today or gone tomorrow, it was about a long tail, and makes him one of the people to follow going forward. I hope we hear more from him.
Now let’s go put my cardboard cutouts on eBay. lol
