Tim Stokely & RJ Phillips, co-founders and co-CEOs of Zoop.
Imagine being able to have an ongoing connection with your favorite celebrity. It’s not like Cameo, in that it’s a paid message, one and done. It’s also not exactly like passing by them down a hallway in the metaverse either. It’s more like the digital celebrity collectibles trading platform, and this is in what the world will soon know as Zoop, which has secured $15 million in grants and investments.
RJ Phillips is the co-founder and co-CEO of Zoop alongside Tim Stokely, who was the founder of OnlyFans, and together, they’re creating a fully functioning ecosystem through avatars that change every week—the celebrities stay the same, what changes are their clothes, their style—one week they’re dressed as astronauts on Mars, the next week it’s Halloween, they’re in Halloween costumes, and so forth.
Zoop allows its users to buy, sell, trade and barter for what they call “Digital Celebrity Collectibles.” It’s a way for fans to connect with their favorite celebrities and join exclusive communities in the metaverse.
This powerful duo transformed OnlyFans from a naughty word into what we now call the creator economy, long before Patreon and Cameo. OnlyFans brings fans and creators closer, and with Zoop, it removes the barrier for so many people to enter the metaverse or web3.
Phillips speaks to Forbes about avatar fashion, metaverse boutiques, celebrity buzz and why Zoop is the future in a post-NFT world.
Tim and RJ, co-founders and co-CEOs of Zoop.
How did Zoop all begin?
RJ Phillips: Tim [Stokely] was looking for a place where fans can engage with celebrities in different ways. Now, people can collect these fun, stylish avatars which are powered by NFTs, but not marketed as such, and then sold in an easy-to-understand way where you can buy them with your debit card. They’re not meant to be expensive. Fans can buy them. What makes it fun and engaging is that every week,there’s a new theme each week. One week might be Halloween-themed, another week might be, they’re all on Mars. The idea is based around utility. You buy them for a reason. If you buy a certain amount of them, you get access to a creator’s community—like a football club or a record label—and the more of the avatars you collect, you can benefit from being in those groups. These avatars you collect work in the metaverse. You don’t hold them in complicated wallets. It’s more like logging into your webmail, you can see what avatars you own directly when you log in, then you go play over 3,000 games on our partner’s metaverse.
Are the founding celebrity members of Zoop called RisingStars?
Yes, they are individuals who have over a million followers, but less than 10 million followers. We’re going to be dropping their names in the coming weeks, as it grows in the US. We’re looking to make sure we’re accessible as possible across the world. We’re not excluding fans because they’re not tech savvy enough to know what to do, we are planning on having music drop weeks, sports drop weeks, fashion drop weeks, too. It’s not like buying a product from a celebrity where you pay for a product and move on. We want it to be more of a continual relationship. There’s a lot of people out there, from reality TV fans to football stars, we’re trying to take that interaction and apply it to new markets.
How does the relationship between celebrity and fan keep going?
Every week, there’s a new drop of avatars that we’re selling, then it’s built to collect sets from a celebrity, which is rewarded by Zoop, and from those groups, like a football club, they can reward the engagement from their fans to the celebrity. It’s like a ticket to a football match, a concert, access to a fashion boutique, or access to a brand-new song, then winning a reality TV competition on an island.
How does fashion play a role in Zoop, from avatar clothing to virtual boutiques?
If you own one avatar from a particular celebrity, you can go and play games with that avatar in an ecosystem, and that will grow into the future. You must buy skins or assets of the avatar you own. That’s where the Zoop store for clothing comes in, a handbag, an accessory. There’s one brand we’re working on, that’s our first trial into the fashion area.
Tim Stokely in the Ready Player Me dashboard in Zoop.
Why do you have faith in the metaverse or web3 as the future?
I have faith in it because there’s already so many extraordinary things that are there. If you look at the games and how it has grown, there’s something there. But there’s a risk that you could lose access to your wallet, or you have to use the right browser—it’s very techy and difficult to understand. For us, you log in, and off you go to enjoy!
How did the OnlyFans background help prepare you for Zoop?
Dealing with celebrity clients is always a challenge, but we like to focus on putting the talent first. That helps a lot. There’s a huge trust with talent and OnlyFans. Take out the adult part of it, when you see talents like Cardi B or Rubi Rose on it, people are excited to see what platform comes next from us. It’s about removing friction between NFTs and celebrities. A lot of people know what a trading card is—it’s old fashioned but sounds brand new. There’s a talent pool that wants to participate and they make money from it. You as the member and owner of this card have different degrees of access, and it’s fun along the way. It’s like an NFT without the baggage.
What’s in it for the celebrity?
If a celebrity goes and does an NFT drop and the market crashes, fans are left holding something hard to sell with no utility. What Zoop offers is maximum utility and a product sold in USD. Celebrities earn 70% of the upside and Zoop does the heavy lifting where fans collect cards to improve their status and compete in challenges or games. It’s win-win on both sides.
Will you work with a consulting creative director?
Yes, we have 18 people working in our art department designing and building the avatars. Each person takes a week to create, the avatars aren’t static. They’re stylish and have a lot of character to them.
