The Friday Thing #755

Well, last week’s football game didn’t go the way I wanted, but not a bad season at all when you lose two cups but still win two.

The Friday Thing #755 is a short one this week but packed with visual storytelling treats.

Longtime followers will know I am a big fan of Nike (despite my large Stan Smith sneaker collection). I remember when I was at university in England that most of my friends were totally convinced that I would end up working for the Swoosh given my obsession with all things Nike and in particular, the Jordan brand. I had the posters, the t-shirts, and of course the sneakers – but also read about their business and how Phil Knight, Tinker Hatfield and team broke the mold. I’m still a huge fan and looking forward to visiting Nike HQ for the first time in a few weeks to exchange ideas on storytelling, culture and more. It’ll be a fun time to be there I am sure as Nike is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

Related to that, Nike recently released a celebratory 50-year video (the original of which I can only find on Twitter) but the director’s cut with Spike Lee is on the Nike YouTube channel and it’s even cooler. It has many of my sporting heroes and I learned about a whole new group of talent. Most of all though, I love the Nike approach to storytelling. It’s almost always about the athlete as the hero and rarely the product. Even if Spike does think “it’s gotta be the shoes”.?

Okay, I’m ready for the weekend and maybe a century bike ride. Wishing you all a great one!

Cheers,

Steve