“I’m in your city” – or “I’m only there when Caitlin shows up”?

In this imagined scenario, Angel Reese’s “I’m in your city” campaign is designed like a full-blown declaration of war.

Every stop pushes the rivalry.
Every appearance hints at “her vs. me.”
Every city is framed as a stage for one narrative: Angel vs. the shadow of Caitlin Clark.

Short clips, walk-ins, and soundbites all orbit the same idea — Caitlin’s presence. What should’ve been a shoe brand built on Reese’s own magnetism quietly turns into a satellite circling a sun that doesn’t belong to her.

Here’s the core problem:
The entire hype around the launch doesn’t revolve around the question:

“Who is Angel Reese?”

but instead:

“What will Angel Reese say, do, or wear… when Caitlin Clark is in the building?”

It’s no longer a campaign about building the Angel brand.
It’s a breathless attempt to squeeze into the same frame as the hottest star in women’s basketball.

When the “real queen” doesn’t walk into the building

Then the script flips: Caitlin Clark gets injured and can’t attend.

From a brand perspective, that’s a nightmare.
From a strategy perspective, it’s a death sentence everyone saw coming but no one wanted to read aloud.

Because once Clark is out, everything gets exposed:

The “edgy” posters lose their punch without someone to oppose.

The “I’m in your city” copy suddenly feels hollow — sure, she’s in the city, but the one person fans were truly hoping to see is… in a treatment room.

All the content hinting at blood, rivalry, and fireworks falls straight into a vacuum.

And fans do what fans always do:
They vote with their wallets.

Within days, the shoe sell-through rate hits only around 36% of internal expectations. Ticket prices to the surrounding events plunge nearly 48%. Those numbers are more than disappointing; they’re a cold, blunt statement:

“If Caitlin’s not in the building, we don’t need to be either.”

Marketing can’t manufacture star power

Angel Reese is a big personality with real influence and her own fanbase. But in this scenario, the WNBA and the team around her make a fatal mistake:

They try to build a marketing strategy on someone else’s shadow.

They’re not selling a story about:

Her journey,

Her character,

Her unique identity as Angel Reese,

They’re selling proximity to Caitlin Clark.

So when that “core asset” suddenly disappears, the campaign is revealed for what it is: an empty stage.
The lights are still on.
The music’s still playing.
But the person the crowd truly came for never walks out.

Star power, in any field, always contains a piece that cannot be copied, bought, or forced.

You can:

Buy billboards,

Buy ad slots,

Buy a prime spot during All-Star Weekend,

but you cannot buy people’s hearts if they feel everything revolves around someone who isn’t even there.

The brutal numbers don’t lie

That 36% sell-through isn’t just a bad sales report; it’s a trust indicator.

Fans are sending a clear message:

“We know who the real center of gravity is. And we’re not fooled by cheap narrative tricks.”

The nearly 48% drop in ticket prices isn’t just about money; it proves that:

Hype built on borrowed rivalry,

Hype built on the promise of a “dual showdown” on the same stage,

is completely unsustainable.

Once that key ingredient vanishes, fans have no problem walking away.

An expensive lesson: authentic influence vs. desperate clout-chasing

In this fictional scenario, the WNBA and Angel Reese both learn a painfully valuable lesson:

Authentic influence comes from being yourself, building your own narrative, your own values, your own fanbase.

Borrowed influence comes from clinging to drama with someone else, using their spotlight to light your stage.

One path might be slower and less noisy at first — but it’s durable.
The other burns hot and dies fast.

Angel Reese, in this case, doesn’t just face a sales flop; she runs headfirst into an uncomfortable truth:

If your campaign only hits when someone else is in the room,
maybe they are the real star — not you.

On the flip side, there’s still a positive angle if anyone’s willing to see it:

If Reese — or any athlete — walks away from this saying:

“I need to be big enough, interesting enough, and real enough
even when my rival, my foil, or the ‘true queen’ isn’t there,”

then the crash wasn’t for nothing.

If not, it will all repeat:

Loud campaigns,

Hashtags that blaze for a few days,

And numbers quietly betraying the hype — reminding everyone that:

Real star power can’t be scripted, can’t be filtered, and can’t survive long if it only exists in someone else’s shadow.