MY ROLES: Art Director, Designer, Art Buyer, Photoshop Wizardry

NIKE 6.0 – building a brand from scratch.

Nemo came together as an integrated team and worked with Nike Action Sports to launch an entirely new brand, focused on unifying the disparate market segments of skate, surf, snow, wake, BMX, and motocross. 

THE CHALLENGE:

Create and introduce a brand (and make it stand out as a dominating force) in a rapidly evolving sub-culture while maintaining an authentic voice, tone, and message that would speak to a new generation of action sports enthusiasts.

THE SOLUTION:

Nemo worked with the internal Nike Action Sports team to craft every aspect of the brand to spread the good word of Nike 6.0. By developing unique brand recognition approaches, we stretched and conquered the boundaries of traditional viral marketing in order to consistently re-address the changes this market desires while still maintaining a cohesive, compelling, genuine message.

THE RESULTS:

We took Nike 6.0—a complete unknown entity—and created a unique aesthetic foundation that ultimately launched a vital brand that holds its own (and more) within the sport culture universe. Not only are consumers taking notice, the athletes themselves (both amateur and pro) are chomping at the bit to be involved with Nike 6.0.

I’ve heard some numbers thrown around out at the Nike campus as to how successful Nike 6.0 has been. Although I can’t divulge the numbers, I can say it has at least one more zero than most other mainstream Action Sports brands. Once again proving that in this landscape great design builds brands.

MY ROLES: Art Director, Designer, Photoshop Wizardry

NIKE 6.0 – logo redesign

The previous Nike 6.0 word mark was literally a two-headed mutant.

Nike 6.0 wanted a new mark to represent the brand’s maturity and legitimacy in action sports as they expanded the brand worldwide.

THE CHALLENGE:

Capture the complexity of a brand in transition and give equal weight to the two halves of the brand essence—athletic performance and lifestyle. In addition, Nike’s internal marketing teams were long divided over the question of creating a new brand mark. We took the assignment knowing it could die in a conference room debate.

THE SOLUTION:

I explored over 250 different marks across 4 different directions and presented the work in front of the Nike action sports leadership team. The presentation featured smoke machines, a live mariachi band, laser cut wood sculptures, and dozens of examples of the logo applied to everything from hard goods to apparel.

THE RESULTS:

The research, presentation, and graphic design were a hit. Everyone from the athletes, product designers, sales force, and brand managers were in unison: the new logo rocked. Nike’s approval process for a global brand mark can take more than six months with internal debate, research and focus groups. The 6.0 mark was approved in 3 days, and in summer 2009 launched worldwide across all functions.