Background: The Enhanced Games is a controversial sports event founded by Australian entrepreneur Aron D'Souza. It reimagines the Olympics... but without all the anti-doping rules. So athletes are allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs openly. It went public via a SPAC in May, reaching a peak market cap of around $2.1 billion.

What happened: The inaugural event was held in Las Vegas last week and things went badly almost immediately. The livestream froze minutes into the first event. Australian swimmer James Magnussen, who had talked up record-breaking performances, finished last and swam slower than his personal best in his clean state. And only one world record was set in the 50m freestyle - and even that result is being disputed.

What else: Next minute: shares in the listed company behind the Enhanced Games fell more than 45% in a week and around 70% over the past three weeks. But here's the twist - the Enhanced Games is reportedly a D2C telehealth and supplements play... with elite athletes who are meant to showcase the performance effects of testosterone and peptide products.  

What's the key learning?

💡 Some of the biggest consumer brands in history have been built by owning a cultural moment and selling products off the back of it. Red Bull is the classic example - it doesn't just sell energy drinks, it sells extreme sports, with the drink acting almost like a souvenir from the brand's lifestyle universe.

💡 The Enhanced Games is trying to replicate that model: the sport becomes the content, the content drives attention, and the attention is meant to convert into sales of supplements. And the opportunity is real, with the global sports nutrition market already worth over $50 billion and still growing quickly.

💡 But the strategy only really works if the athletes can demonstrate superhuman performance... and that hasn't happened. So instead of proving the concept, the event ended up looking like a costly $50 million marketing campaign that failed - which is why many investors quickly lost confidence.