"So much so that it has spawned its own micro-economy. And1, of course, puts so much value in the appeal of the dunk that in the past it has devoted its marketing budget not to NBA endorser/players but to Hotsauce, The Professor, High Rizer and the other dunkers and ball-handling wizards who headlined the company's various streetball tours. Brandon Lacue, d/b/a Werm, for instance, was a marginal high school player in Florida who made a roster in a small Mexican league. But at 6-3 and endowed with the equivalent of Flubber, he became something of a cult hero as a dunker. He signed with And1 in 2009 and makes more than many professional players. In September, he performed at an event in Chicago to celebrate Derrick Rose's new shoe launch. .....
... If you're And1, for instance, you're not simply paying guys like Werm to take part in your Mix Tape Tours. You're paying them for the millions of downloads, views, shares, likes and retweets. It's also YouTube that has enabled dunkers to traffic internationally.
"I'm not saying I'm famous famous," Werm says, "but, yeah, I get recognized all the time. It's Werm! I seen you on YouTube!" (Sure enough, while Staples went undetected at the West Fourth Street court, the regulars immediately identified Werm.)
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