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The branding of Josh Christopher

(Josh Christopher Instagram photo)
(Josh Christopher Instagram photo)

Tony Davis didn’t know why, but Josh Christopher needed his shorts. He was insistent yet enigmatic. The game, back in February, 2018, was hours away and the sophomore gave zero rational.


But for whatever reason, it was urgent so Davis found Christopher’s white shorts with royal blue borders and forked them over. Christopher groundlessly snatched them and bolted.


A little while later, as Mayfair High’s basketball team gathered in its locker room for its pregame meeting, Davis finally broached the whole shorts conundrum with Christopher.


“Oh, I did a film for YouTube and teaching people how to roll up their shorts,” Christopher told his coach in about as nonchalant a way as that statement can be quipped.


Christopher had scurried to the Mayfair training room, where a camera crew from the YouTube account ‘BallerVisions’ was waiting. He gave a quick, minute-long tutorial on his tradition and style of rolling his shorts up from the bottom. ‘BallerVisions’ threw in some highlights from that night's game. And voila. As of today that video had over half a million views.

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On Monday, Christopher -- a five-star guard from Southern California -- announced he had committed to Arizona State. The 11th-ranked player in the country honored his basketball idol Kobe Bryant by posting his announcement video on all his platforms at 8:24 p.m.


The problem was, nearly everyone anticipating his decision thought it was coming much earlier in the day. Give people a time and they’ll set an alarm. Give people a date and they’ll spend all day on Twitter complaining, agonizing, questioning, debating and fretting over when a senior in high school will make his college decision. All that waiting led to a flurry of tweets, mass interest around this decision. For hours leading up to his 8:24 announcement, Christopher was trending on Twitter in the United States.

When the video finally dropped, it felt like pandemonium. You know, as much as an online social media platform can feel like chaos. As of Wednesday afternoon, his video announcement on Twitter alone has generated over 815,000 views and eclipsed 868,000 views on Instagram.


“I did speak to (Michigan) coach Juwan Howard just thanking him today for the recruiting process,” Christopher’s father, Laron, said. In that conversation, he said he saw Josh’s name on ‘Good Morning America (news ticker).

This may be the point of this article where you ask why?


Why all the hoopla?


Why all the attraction? The attention?


Teenagers commit to college every day. Really good recruits, too, some even better than Christopher. So, why did so many people care about his decision?


For one, ASU’s incoming freshman built a brand for himself. But we’ll get to that in a second. More so, he seemed to treat his college decision like he was guarding nuclear launch codes.


When you combine all of the recruiting services’ predictions by its experts easily over 90 percent of them penciled Christopher in to become a Michigan Wolverine. That’s is believed to be the highest percentage ever of incorrect picks ever for a top 10 prospect.


Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean Christopher duped anyone. He just didn’t tell anyone. Including ASU, which found out along with everyone else at 8:24 p.m. Monday night.


The experts making these predictions normally have such high percentages of success because of their sources. They often will make the prediction literally after hearing it from the recruit themselves. They’re rarely going off a hunch. Alas, Christopher made them guess.

He virtually dragged the country along like he was walking around a dog park with a bag of treats about to drop from his back pocket. He did something most recruits avoid like the plague, he interacted with fans on social media. He reposted pleas and pictures from those who wanted him to choose their school. He sent out cryptic messages just for fun.


Of course, people reacted. And, suddenly, everyone on Twitter was Inspector Clouseau.


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Tony Davis’ job title quickly morphed outside of simply ‘Mayfair varsity basketball coach.’ Through no part of his own, he was forced to become inundated with handling fame. Or, rather protecting famous people.


Davis rarely broached the subject of fame with Christopher. Why talk about the elephant in the room if the elephant isn’t hurting anyone?


The Mayfair coach is nonexistent on social media. The whole digital world of Instagram and Twitter is just about foreign to him. The idea that there’s such a thing as Instagram and Twitter fame almost seemed like a joke out of a sci-fi novel.


But there he and his coaching staff were, strategically placing themselves on either side of Christopher as they waited for their game to start, at the ready to tell eager kids Christopher will sign autographs and take pictures after the game. And there they were, shuffling him to the locker room postgame, a request Christopher made at the start of the season.


After all, teenagers, much like professionals, should be allowed a few minutes to decompress after a game before being bombarded by a sea of smartphones.


On most of those occasions, Cam Beverly was off to the side filming. The 23-year old content creator who put together Christopher’s commitment video first met the future Sun Devil back in 2017, back when Christopher had only around 5,000 Instagram followers -- 695,000 fewer than he has at the moment. He formed a relationship with the Mayfair guard and began filming highlight tapes and behind-the-scenes features.


Soon, others followed.


“Two years ago, I was the only person standing on baseline filming him,” Beverly said in a text. “Now I see at least 10 other cameras on any given night.


“I think he’s willing to be on camera so much because he knows he inspires the younger generation. Him building his brand is just a good side effect of how he is … Obviously social media allows for a huge reach and it’s so easily accessible. That’s why you see all the cameras. Mix that with Josh’s personality and you have a show.”


Go to YouTube, type in “Josh Christopher” and you’ll be awakened to a world of preps basketball that feels more like a reality series. Different outlets -- Overtime, Bleacher Report, Ball is Life, Courtside Films -- with different game footage. And Christopher is always in focus, always in the title. Count it up and there has to be 10 million views on those videos.


Did that inflate the hype of Josh Christopher? Of course it did.


That can’t be an undersold part of Christopher’s brand. He made himself visible to the media, to all the people at home searching for the next big thing. He was a showman for those cameras, for all the celebrities like Kevin Durant, Quavo, YG and Ja Morant who sat courtside at some his games.


“I think he’s a fun kid who’s genuine and honest,” Davis said. “People can recognize when someone is being genuine. I think this would be very hard if this wasn’t him and his personality and his fun-loving, outgoing way of life to keep that image up.”


Added Beverly: “He builds his brand every day without even realizing it. Just by being himself, people gravitate towards his energy … His personality is one of a kind. That mixed with social media is a pretty good combination.”


And it was great for everyone. Mayfair became a program with notoriety. It was able to play a national schedule in places like Las Vegas and Brooklyn. It had every game streamed, including one on ESPN last season. And led to the transfer of 2022 five-star guard Dior Johnson before last season.


How much of that happens without Christopher? Without all those videos?


“Our program name is out there,” Davis said. “I think Josh has helped reestablish the program.”


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Laron Christopher, tells the story of how Josh came to get his nickname ‘Gup’ or ‘Jaygup’ with such punctuality it’s obvious he’s done it a few hundred times. As the story goes, Christopher’s older brother Patrick -- who played at Cal and had a short stint in the NBA -- was called ‘Pat Fish’ because his lips drew comparisons to those of a fish.


And if Patrick was the big fish, his younger brother was the guppy. And, thus, the nickname, ‘Gup’ or ‘Jaygup’ was born for Christopher. If all goes according to Laron’s plan, everyone in America will know that name in a few years. People will refer to ‘Jaygup’ not only for his son but as a lifestyle brand. It’ll be on t-shirts and shoes and shorts and everything of the ilk. Or as Laron put it, “On everything I believe you can wear.”


Laron continued: “Who thinks like this, though? Not many people because not many people have a kid like this that has this demand. Let’s forget about the sporting world. The ‘Gup’ is a lifestyle. Joshua is the athlete, but ‘Jaygup’ (is a lifestyle).”


Laron is ready for it. That day when his son is a professional player and the brand can truly come to life. When all that accumulation of followers can really have an impact. Do you think it’s a far-off dream? During an hour-long conversation, Laron sent over photos of more than a dozen t-shirts and hoodies that he had already made.


There’s only one of each, and for obvious reasons, none are for sale. But his ideas are in the flesh. His son’s face, his nickname, his Twitter handle, they’re all printed, all tangible on cotton.


“I think he’s embraced it and understands the power behind him. It’s been a fun journey. We’re just organic with it, ” Laron said. “I genuinely think he understands he’s different and he relishes that but he doesn’t go out of his way to be different. He just knows he is … I just think the kid is anointed and people are attracted to anointed people."

Christopher’s recruitment came down to myriad factors. Style of play. Opportunity to win. Distance from Los Angeles. The fact that Christopher’s brother, Caleb, was already a Sun Devil naturally didn’t hurt ASU’s chances. But, most of all, it was about the school that could help him build his brand -- both on the court and off -- for the NBA.


That encompassed a lot.


During the process, all those visits and conversations with coaches, Laron was interested in how the school’s marketing plan would change if his son attended that program. Colleges usually like to feature seniors or established returners in the advertisements -- commercials, posters, flyers, magnets, etc. But, Laron thought, shouldn’t things change if a program lands its most highly-ranked player ever?


“I was like, ‘He’s coming in with a brand and with a space, how can we use your platform?’” Laron said he told schools during the recruiting process. “He’s going to go to Arizona State. He’s not Arizona State. He’s going to connect to Arizona State with a plethora of amazing people. But he’s not Arizona State. He’s Joshua Christopher. And I think that to embrace that is beauty and is actually honoring God for how he’s made him and created him to be totally different than anybody else.

"“And I think that to embrace that is beauty and is actually honoring God for how he’s made him and created him to be totally different than anybody else. If I’m wearing a Jordan (brand) hoodie, then Jordan is on top of me. If I stamp (a picture of) Gup on top of Jordan, now Gup is on top of that Jordan hoodie. We always want to be on top.”


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There’s a memory about Laron Christopher that Davis keeps coming back to. It was two years ago -- Josh’s sophomore season -- when Davis’ father, Ted, was battling a medical emergency.


Ted Davis had been one of his son’s assistant coaches at Mayfair, around the Christophers enough to watch Laron’s children blossom through their teenage years into dominant men on the basketball court.


And, so, as Ted battled his illness in the hospital, the Christophers would pay him visits. None more so than Laron, who, Davis said, would sometimes spend the night at the hospital, praying over Ted Davis until he recovered.


“It was something he didn’t have to do,” Davis said. “He’s been like that for not only my family but other families in our program. Something happens to somebody or he’ll hear about something on campus and he’s like, ‘Alright, what do you need? What can I do? Let me pray with you.’”


Laron Christopher is a Christian musician, composer and producer who has traveled the world -- “Africa eight times. London, I’ve been there 20 times. Australia. South America. You name it, I’ve been,” Laron said -- to spread the Lord’s gospel through song. Speaking about it, Laron compared God to the air. It’s all around him at all times. Without it, he’s dead. And so, he’s going to praise the thing that he needs the most.


And just as he needs it, his children need it. Scratch that. To Laron Christopher, his children can’t fail because of God. Their path can’t be detoured because of God.

“It’s faith-based,” Davis said of Laron confidence. “He’s a man of God and truly believes what God has destined for his children.”


It’s how Laron Christopher can be so sure about everything. Why he doesn’t question if all that attention is too much for his son.


“God grounds him,” Laron said.


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Regardless, his son’s fame has skyrocketed to a level that even he struggles to grasp. The other day, he walked into a Jamba Juice store and the cashier stopped him, asking if he was “Josh’s father.” For some reason, to Laron, who doesn’t have any social media presence, the notion that this random person knows his son solely from social media made him uneasy.


“I was like, ‘Hmm, I might need to run out of this store,” Laron said.


Yet, without those followers, without those people all over the country knowing who his son is, there’s no brand, no future ‘Gup’ lifestyle clothing line. Laron Christopher, the father, feels comfortless by his son’s mass following. Laron Christopher, the marketer, revels in it. It brings validation.


“Because we’re God-centered and we think about how many lives we could really impact by saying things that are really smart and things that are intelligent,” Laron said. “We have to be very careful and watch our movement because now we impact all of these people.

“Think about it from not just a place of us just marketing this but think of the lives we can touch all at once from a positive space.”


It’s similar to the puzzles he loved to construct as a child.


“When I was growing up, I loved to do puzzles. Drop a 1,500-piece puzzle on the table and I’m going to sit there until that thing is done,” Laron recalled. “You see eight hours and I see, ‘I’m going to conquer this thing without the box.’”


Why would you need a box when you know what the finished product looks like?


Asked where he sees ‘Jaygup brand’ in 10 years, Laron doesn’t even hesitate. By then, he said, Christopher should be on his third NBA contract, a supermax deal. The ‘Jaygup’ merchandise is everywhere. In high-end stores. In sporting goods stores. The marketing of Josh Christopher will be in full force.


That projection is eerily specific. A bold foresight that almost borders on overzealous. Is it all too much? Laron doesn’t think so. He’s quite certain his son can handle it.


Laron recalls a conversation he and Josh had two years ago, while circling the field before a USC football game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during one of Christopher’s unofficial visits with the Trojans.


This was back when Christopher was only a sophomore, back when he only had 65,000 followers on Instagram, back before he became a trending topic on Twitter, back when he was just beginning to understand what kind of attention a five-star national basketball recruit can truly command.


He kept staring up the concrete rows and to the depths of the peristyles and the Olympic flame. He looked at all the fans in seats and all the eyes staring at the field, a massive collection of about 65,000 human beings.


Laron told his son to look around. Sixty-five thousand is a really small number when it’s just on your phone screen. When it’s just that, a number. It looks a heck of a lot bigger when you can visualize what 65,000 people look like.



What if someone gave Christopher a microphone that day and told him to say something to the USC crowd? That’s basically what he does every time he posts on social media, a voice that only figures to amplify in the future.


This was hardly a plan for Laron to scare his son but rather provide him perspective. Even on that scale, Christopher didn’t seem phased.


These days, as his follower count has grown to the size of more than 10 of those Coliseum crowds (700,000), he doesn’t just seem at peace with the scale of his fame.


He seems to relish it. Thrive in it.


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