In an excellent example of brand narrative, the release of the M6 line from Nike/Jordan is accompanied by the launch of an interactive site full of behind-the-scenes storytelling content as told by the shoe’s designers.

Well-known to fashionistas the world over, photographer and artist Todd Selby recently embarked on an interesting project with Nike for their Fall/Winter ‘09 Apparel campaign.

George Parker is the perpetrator of adscam.typepad.com. Every week he shares his opinions on the advertising world with PSFK.

For all the talk about timeless style and designs, the fashion industry can’t help but chase the latest trend. There are those who genuinely create them and those who shamefully knock them off, but when it comes to marketing, they’re equally stuck in a rut.

As kids in the US head back to school to start the new academic year, Ypulse has a nice summary of back-to-school marketing campaigns that worked.

At the 2008 Nike exhibition in Beijing, the sports retail giant utilized a unique packaging design, hoping to reflect their goals of sustainability and lightness.  The recycled cardboard packaging was designed by Zack Klauck and Emile Molie from 2×4, Inc.  The multidisciplinary design studio produced an exhibit that chronicled the four decades of Nike’s pursuit of new materials and technology.
The bags themselves are a mesh wrap of cardboard that are designed to hold a shirt and a windbreaker or a pair of shoes.  The sizes are written by hand and special attention is paid to the amount of materials involved [...]

GreenXchange is a collaboration between Nike, Best Buy and the Creative Commons to create an open innovation platform that promotes the creation and adoption of processes and technologies in the areas of green design and sustainability. GreenXchange wants to engage individuals from across a variety of disciplines, from manufacturers and distributors to academics and stakeholders, in an effort to develop practices and strategies that are relevant not only to the business world, but could potentially have implications for institutions and communities as well.
Beyond the environmental aspect, this project is important because it shows a willingness on the part of corporations [...]

Don’t let your eyes deceive you: those aren’t two separate pairs of shoes. Rather, they are one very special collaboration between cyclist and Creative Director of Intersection Magazine, Yorgo Tloupas and Nike as part of the City Tempo/CTRS/Livestrong collection, in which 8 cyclists from 8 different cities choose a colorway for the Nike City Tiempo shoe. The shoes, which are all black under natural light, but when exposed to car headlight or the flash of a camera becomes white with a black swoosh. This design is not just interesting from a design perspective but is also very useful for those [...]

To those who have ever spent the long summer months in the Northeast, the name Jones Beach brings to mind packed summer concerts, tourist jammed beaches, and the distinct smell of copper tone. However, the folks at Nike have a soft spot in their heart for that stretch of sand on southern Long Island and are releasing a pair of limited edition “Jones Beach” Airforce 1 premium Quickstrikes. The kicks feature a grey color scheme with a printed design on the back, and along the heels are the coordinates of Jones Beach. Other special touches include a “Strong Island” sole [...]

Running and technology have been on a collision course since Nike introduced their Plus training products.  Now, creating playlists for your workout is simple.  iTunes offers training mixes hosted by runners like Kara Goucher or even artists like De La Soul.  However, it’s also simple to create your own mix to your pace with some simple (and free) tools.
A new website called Hella Sound will create custom music for your running speed, but if you prefer to use your favorite tunes, try these programs.  The first stop is to find your ideal pace by learning the stride BPM (beats per [...]

Switzerland: 1954. The now iconic yellow jersey of the Brazilian soccer team makes its debut in a major competition, the World Cup. As the Brazilian team enters the field all dressed in yellow, the radio broadcaster Geraldo José de Almeida spontaneously creates the nickname that would characterize the team from that day on: Canarinho (“Little Canary”), a yellow bird very common in Brazil.
Inspired by Brazilian street art and street soccer, Movimento Canarinho is Nike’s first campaign to be developed 100% in (and for) Brazil. The initiative attempts to rescue the Canarinho sprit: the spirit of those who know they must [...]

Clive Thompson at Wired reports on how the competitive nature of games can be injected into everyday mundane tasks making them more fun and more interesting. You are probably already familiar with the way Nike Plus injects game-like qualities into your everyday cardiovascular workout, but Thompson highlights some other examples including; digital gas mileage readouts in hybrid cars being used for hypermiling games, Dennis Crowley’s pub-crawling based Foursquare, and, get this – a “game” built into corporate email aiming to reward a reduction in email volume.
Every employee is given virtual tokens — say, 100 a week, — that they can [...]

Record labels don’t always have a smooth relationship with music artists. If a band chooses to release their music using alternative means, one of the most common assumptions is a) that their music wasn’t good enough to get them signed by a label or b) that they were difficult for labels to get along with. For established 20-year music veterans De La Soul, neither was the case. Releasing on iTunes tomorrow, De La Soul has partnered with Nike to bring us the “Are You in?: Nike+ Original Run,” 44-minute workout LP. This marks the return of the hip-hop trio to the [...]

Wooster Collective points us to a great animation made by James Jarvis for Nike. Wooster’s title says it all: “Sometimes Brands and Artists Get It Right… This Is One Of Those Times.”  Jarvis’ take on the collaboration:
I had become interested in the idea of characters that were less referential and more iconic and abstract. I particularly wanted to do something with a potato-headed stick-man that I had been drawing at that time.
The film was inspired by certain personal experiences in running – a favourite run over Blanchland moor in Northumberland, being attacked by a crow in Singapore – and also [...]

Johnny Holland Magazine features an interesting discussion surrounding the development of everyware: technology that’s built into everyday objects to provide personal feedback. These “personal informatics” are already tracking people’s daily activities and allowing them to modify their behavior based on their trends. Take, for instance, the popular Nike+ system. By putting a small computer chip in your running shoes and synching it to your iPod, you can track your run, monitor your progress, and perhaps most importantly, connect with a community of runners. And in times of recession, people start looking for ways to save wherever they can, which may [...]