Think Outside the Box: Create a MSCHF BOX
What do the people at MSCHF really care about?
Remember when you were little, and Christmas was coming up? All those presents under the tree, with your name written on them, calling you, needing to be opened… But you had to wait, you always had to wait. At last, when the day came, you opened it up and found out what it was: had Santa or your parents or your uncles or your grandma brought you what you asked for? If they did, great! If they didn’t… well, not so much.
Christmas presents
Now imagine that your dad called you to the living room a couple of days before Christmas. Say 10 days before: December the 15th. He knows you really wanted that new Nintendo you saw at the store: you’ve been begging for it for weeks! He sits you down on the couch, facing the tree and presents in all their shiny glory. Then he offers you the weirdest deal you could expect for Christmas:
“My son (insert “daughter” too, if you wish)! I’ve got a deal for you. Kind of like a bet… do you know what a bet is? It’s when you put some money on something you don’t know for sure: either you win more, or you lose everything… but it´s all up to luck. So, the bet or deal I have for you is this: I’ve laid down some presents under the tree. Now, I know you really want that new Nintendo thing… So, if you want, you can go and open all your presents right now…”
At this point, you jump out of the couch, diving for the first present, closest to you. But your dad tackles you down, mid-flight: “Hold on, buddy! I’m not done, yet… So, you could open all your presents right now OR you could wait until Christmas day, the 25th. Now, here’s the catch: I don’t know what’s inside those presents right now: it could be a bubble gum wrap or some stones or books or your Nintendo with at least 10 games… But nothing is for certain!
“Or you could wait! And if you were to wait, I can assure you: you will get your Nintendo, just as you asked for. Nothing more, nothing less… but you’ll get it for sure. So, your choice: either you wait and get something you’re certain of and you know you want OR you go for it now and risk not getting what you asked for.”
This is truly a shakespearean dilemma:
to open or not to open.
What would you do?
And if it were true?
Well, if your imagination was very vivid — or even if it was not — you might find it to be real: not the 25th of December, but on the 25th of February… just a week away.
You’ve probably heard about MSCHF and their Nike “Jesus Shoes”. Referencing Jesus in the Gospel (Mt 14,25), with these shoes you can “walk on water”. They originally came out priced at $1,425 (Heh! See the reference?), but now they are being resold for over $3,000. That’s a premium price for a viral tennis shoe.
Well, it seems they are back at it again! Now they have created the MSCHF BOX. What is it? A box. What’s inside? God only knows! What can you do with it? You can open it (or not). Your choice!
You can open it (or not).
The MSCHF BOX
The box will cost $100 when it comes out next Tuesday. Inside the MSCHF BOX you might find anything (well, almost). The contents may be priced anywhere from $0 to $7,000, including things like Lew Later’s Pokémon trading cards, a chewed gum, some underwear, a Louis Vuitton bag, a Rolex watch, and much more! The fun part? You never know what you’ll find inside!
Now you could go for the alternative: NOT opening the box. Each day you control your curiosity, your box is worth $10, up to a maximum of $1,000 for not opening it for 100 days. But how do you get the money you earned through self-control? You just send the box back, intact, as you received it.
For some people, it’s a no brainer: you pay $100, wait 100 days and then cash in $1,000. The easiest $900 you’ll ever make. But it’s not that simple. You may be willing to risk it out. Or you probably can’t control your insatiable curiosity. Or you might even totally not trust MSCHF and think it’s all a scam! But, in reality, the MSCHF Box is not about getting something good or some money out of it. It’s all about viral marketing.
So what?
I don’t think they care much about how many people open the boxes or what you’ll get as a surprise treasure or if you’ll wait and claim their $1,000. All they care about is you having to choose, about you being uncertain. The higher the stakes, the greater the trill. And that where they are putting their money. Not the prizes, not the $1,000, but your uncertainty and your thirst for adrenaline and your thrill in riding the wave with everybody else.
That’s the “thing” nowadays. You hear everybody talking about “thinking outside the box”, being yourself, being original… but we all follow the crowd: and we love it! That’s how we make money and how we spend it. Chasing the crowd makes us stress out and get tired, and we think that when we reach the top of the wave, we will be able to rest… just to find out that a new wave is coming, and you better start swimming again if you don’t want to drown.
Now the choice is before you: to open or not to open? Do you go for the sure thing or do you risk it all? Do you let the crowd guide you into the box… or do you think like the guys at MSCHF that created a box knowing that, nowadays, thinking outside the box has probably become the box?
