Nike ID: Touch to colour

Originally uploaded by distillerymedia

Shop windows always feel a bit like wasted space. Headless manequins in static poses as if frozen in fashion future. They neither say come in nor walk by but stand more simply as pronouncements of their anotomically incorrect selves. Now, window dressers have a difficult business for sure. A few like Simon Doonan are considered minor rock (sock) stars, but most are arrangers trying to simulantiously support the brand and its message while also driving traffic through the doors of the store.

That’s all to explain why I like these Nike windows. Not only do they support the idea of customization and uniqueness when everything is starting to look very safe and bland, but they actually encourage interaction. By touching the store window you can change the color combinations of the products, in effect test driving before you buy. I liked it online but I really love it as a window concept.

Reebok one-ups Nike

I don’t know how many folks have been following the story of Arien O’Connell who ran in the Nike Women’s Marathon here in San Francisco. She was a school teacher who ran the race but didn’t run in the “elite” group because she thought of herself as an average runner.  Turns out that she ran her best time that day.  A time that beat the average time of the elite group.  Actually it beat the 3rd, 2nd and 1st place finishers of the elite group.  And it wasn’t by chance, everyone was equiped with digital timers that registered their times automatically so it wasn’t as if she hopped the bus and showed up at the finish.

So, great story for Nike you would think.  Woman says just do and and does it.  Not so fast, it took them DAYS and a bit of bad press to even give her a trophy although they made it clear that she still didn’t win.

Along comes Reebok and gives her a trophy for the race and $2,500 for her school.  Pretty good move Reebok…oh, and getting a press mention and building your brand as “for everyone” is definitely worth a couple of grand.

Nike Keeps Sticking in my Head

This stuff is amazing and it is sticking to the inside of my head like Brown Eyed Girl at a kareoke bar.

It’s 3AM, Who Do You Want to Play Soccer With?

… Pop Art

Originally uploaded by thebeeb

In the ‘so cool and ingenious I checked to make sure it wasn’t published on April 1st’ news of the day, Nike teams up to produce short-term glow in the dark spray paint for night games.

“Unless you have easy access to stadium lighting, playing a pickup game after dark can be nearly impossible. Well now designer Pierre Haulot has teamed with Nike to create Virtual Park, a glow in the dark spray paint used to create goals, boundaries, a glowing ball and whatever else you need to keep the games going at night. The paint even disappears after two hours, so the Vandal Squad won’t come crawling.”

published in Complex, found at Contagious