Emotion by Design

Emotion by Design Plot Summary

Introduction

The room falls silent as a projection screen illuminates, flanked by flags from nations around the world. It's February 2020, and Greg Hoffman is at his retirement celebration after twenty-seven years at Nike, rising from design intern to chief marketing officer. The first image appears - his initials "GH" styled like the iconic athlete logos he helped create over the decades. Emotion surfaces immediately, a fitting response for someone whose career has been dedicated to creating emotional connections between brands and consumers. Throughout his journey, Hoffman developed a philosophy he calls "Emotion by Design" - the ability to craft stories, images, and experiences that make people believe their most audacious dreams are possible. This approach isn't dependent on massive resources or large teams; it's about the power of story and the depth of connection. At its core lies the conviction that everyone has creative potential, and organizations must nurture environments where imagination flourishes. In the chapters that follow, readers will explore how to build these emotional bonds through insights drawn from experiences with legendary athletes, groundbreaking campaigns, and transformative cultural moments. The lessons apply across all marketing disciplines and show how brands can rediscover the human element in consumer relationships while balancing the art and science of modern marketing.

Chapter 1: The Art of Brand Storytelling: More Than Just Logos

I'm looking at a projection screen flanked by more than a hundred flags from nations around the world. The international atmosphere fits perfectly, as this is Nike's Sebastian Coe Building, named for the British runner who won gold medals in the 1500 meters at both the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games. It's February 2020, and this is my retirement celebration after twenty-seven years at Nike, rising from design intern to chief marketing officer. On the screen appears "GH," my initials, designed to resemble the athlete logos we created over the years for icons like LeBron, Tiger, and Serena. I started at Nike in 1992 designing logos, and now, my persona had become a logo itself, bringing everything full circle. One of the evening's most moving moments comes when my protégé presents me with a framed portrait of Colin Kaepernick by photographer Platon. This portrait was part of my final Nike campaign, but it was also art, designed to be more than just a photograph. It captured Kaepernick's personality and passion while making a statement about Nike's belief in the power of sport to change the world. The portrait represents not just great art but also great brand marketing - a reminder that art and marketing can fulfill the same purpose. The journey to this Kaepernick portrait began months earlier when I visited Platon's studio in New York. Our friendship dated back to 2013, and he had already photographed the Brazil National Football team for Nike. During this visit, I mentioned that he was missing Colin Kaepernick from his collection of civil rights champions. What started as a casual observation evolved into the "True to 7" campaign featuring laser-engraved Air Force 1 shoes with Kaepernick's seven values that informed his belief system. This final project embodied what I believe is the competitive advantage for any brand: the ability to construct powerful emotional bonds with consumers through cultivating a strong creative culture. This connection isn't about resources but about the power of story and depth of connection. Even a small team can generate phenomenal success when they harness this creative methodology. The emotional connections that bond brands and consumers don't depend on the size of the brand - they depend on the strength of the story.

Chapter 2: Creative Chemistry: How Team Diversity Fuels Innovation

In 1997, the Brazil National Football team was at the top of its game when it entered an exhibition match against Mexico at the Orange Bowl in Miami. This wasn't a World Cup match, but part of Nike's Brasil World Tour, a multiyear campaign that would take the Brazilians around the globe in televised matches. The partnership was an audacious way for Nike to increase its presence in international soccer, where footwear sales accounted for only 1 percent of Nike's total footwear sales at the time. But there was another reason that influenced Nike's decision. Brazilian football had always represented the ideal of "creativity is a team sport." The country had created its own way to play the beautiful game called Ginga, which literally means "sway." Ginga emphasized elegance and style over discipline and technique. As Pelé once said, "We want to dance. We want to Ginga. Football is not about fighting to the death. You have to play beautifully." I was still a young designer at Nike during the Brasil World Tour, responsible for creating the branding, art direction, and experience design. I wrangled a trip to Goiania, Brazil, to shoot the National Team. During a scrimmage open to the public, hundreds of fans swarmed the field. I quickly instructed my film crew to form a protective ring around Ronaldo, then the preeminent footballer on the planet. That was when Ronaldo himself spoke to me in Portuguese, wanting us to let the fans in. I relented, and the fans didn't crush Ronaldo - they idolized him, creating a moment of human connection. This experience influenced my approach to the shoot. Instead of just presenting the team in black-and-white documentary-style photography, I wanted to include imagery of passionate Brazilian people from economically depressed areas. My idea wasn't met with enthusiasm from the Council of Brazilian Football, but I argued that Brazilian football wasn't only about the players - it was about the people who loved the game, and all the passion, soul, and culture surrounding the team. Eventually, I received approval to shoot both the team and its fans, telling a story that captured what this amazing team meant to its people. My experience with the Brasil World Tour emphasized the power of empathy and the creative magic found in diverse teams. After overcoming my own fear, I recognized the true meaning of this team to its country. This insight transformed a simple sports team photoshoot into a celebration of people and culture. The Brazilian team itself was a perfect example of creative chemistry - not a team designed only for efficiency and performance, but one that used the creative eccentricities of its players to produce a playing style that was exciting, unpredictable, and dominant.

Chapter 3: Never Play It Safe: Building a Culture of Risk-Taking

Footage of a bicycle kick by Swedish soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimović is paused in midstrike, as a man in a suit with a turtleneck walks on stage. He points to the suspended image of Zlatan in the air, and says in a condescending tone: "Seventy-six percent probability of missing the target. Reckless." The unseen audience laughs. The man continues as if giving a TED Talk: "Even the greatest players of our time make mistakes. They take too many risks! After all, they're only... human." He pauses before saying "human," allowing the audience to appreciate the fragility and potential for failure in such creatures. "But what if they weren't?" Thus begins Nike's 2014 epic animated feature, "The Last Game," created in partnership with Wieden & Kennedy and Passion Pictures. The film tells the story of the world's greatest footballers on a mission to save soccer from the hands of a villainous mastermind, the Scientist, and his Clones. The Clones have been programmed to remove all risk-taking from the game and replace it with ruthless efficiency. The film shows the Clones dismantling team after team until the crowds disappear. Brazilian legend Ronaldo gathers the "originals" to "save football." "Remember what makes you great," O Fenómeno says. "You are not afraid to take risks! You play like it's a game; they play like it's a job. You risk everything... to win! There's no greater danger than playing it safe." "The Last Game" was the third of three films for Nike's Risk Everything campaign, launched to coincide with the 2014 World Cup. This was a critical moment for Nike to become the number one brand in global football. We needed more than just a global campaign; we needed a global entertainment experience that would change how consumers interacted with Nike via the World Cup. For Risk Everything, Nike had to live those words. I was fortunate to work for a brand that understood and cultivated risk-taking. The challenge for any brand is establishing a culture of creative risk-taking, then protecting it from forces that try to crush it. A culture of risk-taking comes down to incentivization: Does an organization actively reward bold ideas? Does leadership make time to listen? If an unconventional idea doesn't work, are creators encouraged to try again? The purpose of taking risks in marketing is to create new ways to engage consumers, reaching them on levels never done before. You're trying to start trends, not follow them.

Chapter 4: Game Face for Greatness: Brand Identity as Competitive Advantage

"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings." This line from William Blake isn't typically associated with athletic greatness, but it adorned what would become arguably the most popular sports poster of all time: the Michael Jordan "Wings" poster. The black-and-white image shows Jordan with arms outstretched, one hand palming a basketball, and became a fixture on bedroom walls across the country in the early '90s. The designer of the "Wings" poster, Ron Dumas, said he found Blake's words "aspirational and timeless," lending a degree of "fine art" to a medium that mostly featured sports stars in full-color glory. The poster stands out because it's more an expression of artistry than athletics. "When I sketched out the idea it was immediate that it would be a black-and-white image like fine art photography," said Dumas. The image functions like a painting, with its subject clear and prominent, but whose meaning remains open to interpretation. The very purpose of Jordan's outstretched arms conveys different meanings to different audiences. Dumas saw how "kids love to run with their arms outstretched, pretending to fly." The Blake quote fits this idea of childhood innocence, a call to the young to dream big and throw off the weights of doubt and fear. At the same time, Jordan's expression and the ritualistic extension of his arms recalls a person in a meditative state. He isn't soaring; he's imagining. "Wings" isn't so much a celebration of Jordan the athlete as it is of the human spirit, with Jordan serving as the symbol of the greatness inside the young. Viewed this way, the poster does far more than showcase another great athlete; it distills the very purpose of Nike into an image: You too are an athlete capable of greatness. This poster's appeal goes beyond basketball fans, explaining why it adorned bedroom walls of those who otherwise never held a basketball. It conveys values and strength of purpose that stir the highest emotions in viewers. Nothing is limiting you except yourself. Brand identity is often an overlooked part of marketing. When speaking with start-ups and entrepreneurs, they sometimes underestimate the importance of presenting their company through a look that represents values and signifies purpose. This neglects the emotional bond that the strongest brands establish with consumers. I often use the metaphor of a picture frame: your brand identity is how you frame every image, product, and output from your brand. The frame shouldn't overshadow the picture, but it should contain recognizable elements that tell anyone this picture belongs to your brand.

Chapter 5: Dare to Be Remembered: Finding Your Authentic Brand Voice

Moments before I was scheduled to go onstage with Nike founder Phil Knight, he turned to me and said that he had looked over the questions I had prepared for him and the other panelists and felt that we would have to do a lot of dancing. What he meant was that my questions wouldn't quite fill all the time we had. With that, we walked out onto the makeshift stage to the applause of hundreds of Nike employees waiting in the atrium of the Jerry Rice Building, not to mention the thousands watching virtually around the world. In 2013, Nike celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Just Do It slogan, coined by Dan Wieden all those decades ago. As the VP of Global Brand Creative, my role was to moderate a forty-minute panel discussion among Phil Knight, Dan Wieden of Wieden & Kennedy, and Tom Clarke, a Nike veteran since 1980 and president of Nike Innovation. We kicked off the event with the launch of the new "Just Do It: Possibilities" commercial. In it, viewers are inspired to push their limits through various scenarios featuring an all-star cast of athletes and celebrities. The film encapsulated Just Do It (and the Nike brand) perfectly. What, after all, is the point behind "just do it" if not to challenge yourself beyond what you think is possible? Of course, the film had to tell the decades-old Just Do It story in a way that was both unique and relevant for the newer generation of viewers. I followed with a series of questions for the panel. With the depth of their answers and stories, we covered all my prepared questions but still had half the panel to go. I had also prepared a film montage of iconic Just Do It ads. The first commercial was the legendary "Bo Knows," which introduced cross-training to the world and was the first Nike ad to sign off with "Just Do It." Phil mentioned it was on his short list of the best Nike ads of all time. Next was "Instant Karma" from 1992, featuring John Lennon's song over footage of both regular and professional athletes going about their training. These ads showcased how Nike's voice, in the way it communicates its brand story through film, reflects the values and personality of the brand itself. These stories are remembered decades later because they stirred intense emotions within the audience. "Bo Knows" promoted a new way for all athletes to train, while "Instant Karma" showed the convergence of music and sport in a way that was unconventional at the time. For my final question, I asked: "What advice do you have for the next generation of Nike storytellers?" Phil's answer struck the deepest chord. Using a golf analogy, he said that as storytellers for a brand, you have a set of clubs and need to choose the right club based on the shot you need to hit. "Different moments require different shots," he said. It's the sum of those shots that make up a brand's voice over time. The game doesn't change; the goal is the same, but how you reach that goal depends on what you choose to get there.

Chapter 6: Don't Chase Cool: Creating Icons Through Authenticity

If it's classic it's gonna last forever then I'm everywhere you never been and better than I ever been —"Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)" The first and only time this song was performed live was at the Gotham Hall venue in New York City in December 2006. The artists Rakim, Kanye West, Nas, and KRS-One sang it together on an incredibly small stage for about five hundred people invited to this special event put on by Nike. Any one of these rappers could've filled a venue many times the size of Gotham Hall by himself, yet they all came to celebrate with Nike the anniversary of an icon. Guests entered through a large white shoebox, then walked down a brightly lit corridor lined with 1,700 versions of a single sneaker. The event was exclusive, but MTV was on hand to record the performances to air a few weeks later. Never before would this collection of artists perform together—and the audience knew it. Never before would this collection of sneakers be on display in one place—and the audience definitely knew that, too. That was the point of the event, called "1NightOnly." For a single moment, we were going to come together to celebrate something we all loved and respected: the Air Force 1, the most important sneaker in history. Nike launched the first Air Force 1 in 1982. When designer Bruce Kilgore started to design what would become the AF1, he didn't look at running shoes—he looked at Nike's hiking boots for inspiration. The movements of a basketball player on the court, especially the pivot motion, demanded a shoe that could provide support, comfort, and versatility. Six NBA players were selected to represent the shoe, including Moses Malone, who took the Philadelphia 76ers to the championship a year later wearing red-and-white AF1s. Nike discontinued the shoe in 1984, as was normal business procedure, even though demand remained high. But the demand was so intense that distributors called on Nike for another run. Having moved from the court to the streets, the AF1 was no longer just a shoe for performance; it was an icon, a symbol conveying authenticity and shared culture. In 1986, Nike bowed to the still white-hot market demand and announced the Air Force 1's return. Our challenge for the twenty-fifth anniversary was clear: How do we celebrate the Air Force 1's iconic status without diminishing its legacy? Since the AF1 had debuted, Nike had shown remarkable restraint in marketing a shoe that meant so much to so many. The culture—especially youth culture—had changed, and consumers tuned out when they felt overly marketed to. Less was more, and slapping your logo on everything was a surefire way to reduce emotional attachment. Before hip-hop artists were attached, before MTV would record the event, before there was a giant white AF1 shoebox gateway, there were the shoes. Whatever we decided to do, the shoes had to be the focus. Our initial planning called for creating the largest collection of AF1s ever exhibited in one place, everything else orbiting around this central showcase. Every inch of the Gotham Hall space was designed to tell the story of the AF1's value - not because of price, but because of the attachment so many had for it. Memories, moments, the future—these were the jewels that glittered on each pair. Every brand wants to create its own cultural icon, but if that's the goal from the beginning, you'll probably fail. What is cool if not authenticity, individuality, a strong sense of self and purpose? You create an icon by starting a trend, not chasing one. If you chase trends, you're probably trying to be something you're not—and consumers are experts at exposing inauthenticity. Because brands don't decide what becomes an icon; consumers do.

Chapter 7: Spark a Movement: How Products Can Transform Culture

"The world is stuck! It's stuck in a rut. It's stuck in a routine. It's stuck watching this! Today, we're going to try to convince some Angelinos to stop sitting in traffic and to choose GO. All right, load it up!" At which point comedian Kevin Hart laces up his Nikes and jumps in the back of a truck—except the back of the truck looks like a glass box with a treadmill in the middle. With Kevin starting to jog, the truck drives through Los Angeles and onto the freeway in the middle of rush hour traffic. Kevin, running along in the back of the truck, is miked up and calling out to motorists and pedestrians. "You guys are in traffic doing nothing," says Kevin to the drivers. "I'm in training doing something." Which might sound harsh for people who have jobs, but it's Kevin Hart. It's Kevin Hart in a glass box running on a treadmill. "Do I look as cool from out there as I think I do?" he asks no one in particular. This wasn't just some crazy stunt. Kevin was promoting the Nike "Go LA 10K," held in April 2018, which coincided with the launch of the all-new Nike React footwear innovation. His involvement with Nike wasn't limited to the LA race. He was also involved in the campaign to promote the Apple Watch Nike+, which launched in 2017. In 2015, we began searching for someone who could authentically talk about fitness, specifically running, and literally start a movement about movement. That person was Kevin Hart. To those who only know Kevin from his stand-up and cinema work, the choice seems odd. He's not a professional athlete. But that's also the point. Nike's vision wasn't just to reach those who might respond to a known athlete, but to someone relatable in a different way. The runners were already running; it was the people sitting on the couch we needed to reach. How did we know Kevin was perfect? In June 2015, the night before performing in Boston, he tweeted: "Boston, I want u 2 get up & run with me n the AM! Meet by the water shed 367 chestnut hill ave Brighton MA... Next 2 Reilly recreation center." The next day, three hundred Bostonians came out to run with him. It was the first of many runs he organized while on tour, reaching thousands across thirteen cities in five months. In Philadelphia alone, 6,500 people ran with Kevin through the City of Brotherly Love, retracing Rocky Balboa's iconic run up the steps of the Museum of Art. Speaking about that first Boston run, Kevin said: "It was honestly a spontaneous decision. I felt like it would be a cool way to get people motivated about fitness." Digging deeper, we learned that Kevin wasn't always a runner. A few years earlier, he finally decided to get serious about fitness. He struggled to find a routine until one day, it clicked. The routine became an addiction, and like the zeal of the converted, Kevin wanted to share his love of fitness with others through his tremendous platform. Good brands create memorable moments; great brands create movements. But any movement needs to begin with an aspirational vision: What do we want to achieve? Since brand movements are tied to products, the better question is: What do we want this product to achieve? Not do, but achieve. What can it facilitate? How can it improve the consumer's life? Find the answer to those questions, and you have the vision for your movement.

Summary

Throughout this journey into the heart of creative brand building, we've witnessed how the most meaningful connections aren't forged through algorithms or data points, but through authentic human emotions. Whether through the iconic Jordan "Wings" poster that transformed a basketball phenom into a symbol of human potential, or Kevin Hart's movement about movement that got thousands off their couches, the core message remains clear: the brands that endure are those that speak to something deeper in us all. The principles explored here - from embracing team diversity and risk-taking to crafting a distinctive brand voice and sparking cultural movements - all orbit around a single truth: emotion is the currency of lasting brand relationships. The balance between art and science, between data-driven decisions and intuitive leaps of faith, isn't an either/or proposition but a delicate dance where both partners must move in harmony. When we design for emotion rather than mere transactions, we transform ordinary products into vessels of meaning that carry our shared dreams and aspirations. In our increasingly automated world, the competitive advantage lies not in chasing trends or technological novelty, but in rekindling our fundamental humanity through stories that remind us who we are and what we might become.

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Greg Hoffman

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