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Later this summer, a trading platform called Zoop will debut as a place where fans can interact with celebrities and sports figures using unique avatars. Zoop was founded by Tim Stokely and RJ Phillips, both formerly of the very successful (albeit pornographic) social media site OnlyFans. It is inspired by the old-fashioned way baseball cards are traded and bought, but is brought into the blockchain age. Recently interviewed Observer’s CEO James Ledbetter Phillips; this transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Observer: Zoop is interesting because it occupies this type of Web 2.0, Web 3.0 space where fans can interact. Start by telling me how you got the idea?
Phillips: We wanted to bring 3D avatars to life and then ensure that they had tremendous utility and ensure that users were not bypassed from getting involved based on their technical knowledge. It is meant to be a super low entry barrier. But the idea in the future is that anyone who has followers or someone who thinks they have followers can come to Zoop, upload their ID, create their basic avatar, and then let’s continue with the themes. We will then release these cool different additions of their avatar in different styles. And it is then up to the market to decide what price they will pay for them. They can go and do whatever they want with them: if they just want to collect them to receive rewards or collect them to join the community, or they can collect them and exchange them directly for other avatars in our game in the app.
As I understand it, what you just described is a little down the road. In the beginning, you are a little more focused on celebrities and sports figures.
We will launch what we have called the rising stars, people with up to 5-7 million followers. There are hundreds in each set in the rising star category. And then new people will be added every week. The first people we dropped in the first week will then have other issues published the following week. From day one, people will be able to gather these avatars to join the community. And some of these are sponsored brands.
Who do you think the target user is? Who comes to Zoop and why?
That’s a very good question. We discuss it a lot internally because we actually do not know. The only thing we can talk about from our past lives is where celebrities send their fans to go. We clearly see that this relationship between celebrity and fans is strong. What we also understand from the celebrities we talk to are independent NFT projects without utility trailers with bad taste in their mouths, especially if they are issued at the top of the market. We have seen it happen time and time again. These fans have been left with something they can not do anything about. So what celebrities like about what we do, and they may be TikTokers from Japan, or they may be college baseball players, they like Zoop giving some benefit behind what we issue.
What is the use, really?
It is the merging of these communities. You are automatically put into a community by the celebrity you bought when you have that avatar. For example, there may be fans who support musical artists, but not the music company or the association above them. We can offer the direct-to-consumer relationship that they do not have today.
What is your business model? How will Zoop make money?
We charge small fees to people who sell avatars to our secondary market. Then we also charge for the brands to create community around what we do as well.
These are NFTs, they are blockchain based. I just wanted to be clear on that.
That’s a great question. I’m glad you asked. The word NFT does not appear on our website or in our marketing. Because it cuts off the users we target, right? We are 3D collectors, we are driven by the technology of NFTs. (Fans) do not need to know that word to be able to interact with what we build.
This interview was originally published in The Creators, a newsletter about the people who run the creative economy. Get it in your inbox before it’s online.
