This book is one of the first to take an in-depth look at how an advertising image works. It situates the Nike swoosh logo in terms of political economy, sociology, culture and semiotics. Nike Culture describes and deconstructs the themes and structures of Nike's advertising, outlines the contradictions between image and practice, and explores the logic of the sign economy. In addition, by focusing on issues revolving around representations of race, class and gender, the desire for both community and recognition, and the construction of sport as a spiritual enterprise, the book offers insights into the cultural contradictions embedded in sports culture.

This book is one of the first to take an in-depth look at how an advertising image works. It situates the Nike swoosh logo in terms of political economy, sociology, culture and semiotics. Nike Culture describes and deconstructs the themes and structures of Nike's advertising, outlines the contradictions between image and practice, and explores the logic of the sign economy. In addition, by focusing on issues revolving around representations of race, class and gender, the desire for both community and recognition, and the construction of sport as a spiritual enterprise, the book offers insights into the cultural contradictions embedded in sports culture.

This book provides a compelling insider's account of how Nike became the world's largest sports and fitness company. It includes a dedicated mailing and e-mail campaign to targeted sports interest media & organizations. How does a young boy from a small Oregon town get swept up in the politics of his chosen sport and become an integral part of possibly the most influential sports company of all time - Nike. Nike began with a handshake and a few hundred dollars passed between Phil Knight and legendary track coach Bill Bowerman more than 35 years ago - and since then it has grown into the world's largest sports and fitness company. "Out of Nowhere" provides an unrivalled glimpse into the first 33 years of Nike - from its humble beginnings to its modern guise as a global giant - and takes readers on a rollercoaster ride through all of the company's successes and failures.

How do we explain the breakthrough market success of businesses like Nike, Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's, and Jack Daniel's? Conventional models of strategy and innovation simply don't work. The most influential ideas on innovation are shaped by the worldview of engineers and economists - build a better mousetrap and the world will take notice. Holt and Cameron challenge this conventional wisdom and take an entirely different approach: champion a better ideology and the world will take notice as well. Holt and Cameron build a powerful new theory of cultural innovation. Brands in mature categories get locked into a form of cultural mimicry, what the authors call a cultural orthodoxy. Historical changes in society create demand for new culture - ideological opportunities that upend this orthodoxy. Cultural innovations repurpose cultural content lurking in subcultures to respond to this emerging demand, leapfrogging entrenched incumbents. Cultural Strategy guides managers and entrepreneurs on how to leverage ideological opportunities: - How managers can use culture to out-innovate their competitors - How entrepreneurs can identify new market opportunities that big companies miss - How underfunded challengers can win against category Goliaths - How technology businesses can avoid commoditization - How social entrepreneurs can develop businesses that appeal to more than just fellow activists - How subcultural brands can break out of the 'cultural chasm' to mass market success - How global brands can pursue cross-cultural strategies to succeed in local markets - How organizations can maximize their innovation capabilities by avoiding the brand bureaucracy trap Written by leading authorities on branding in the world today, along with one of the advertising industry's leading visionaries, Cultural Strategy transforms what has always been treated as the "intuitive" side of market innovation into a systematic strategic discipline.

"After years of rumors and speculation, Matt Hart sets out to peel back the layers of secrecy that protected the most powerful coach in running. What he finds will leave you indignant—and wondering whether anything in the high-stakes world of Olympic sport has truly changed." —Alex Hutchinson, New York Times bestselling author of Endure Game of Shadows meets Shoe Dog in this explosive behind-the-scenes look that reveals for the first time the unsettling details of Nike's secret running program—the Nike Oregon Project. In May 2017, journalist Matt Hart received a USB drive containing a single file—a 4.7-megabyte PDF named “Tic Toc, Tic Toc. . . .” He quickly realized he was in possession of a stolen report prepared a year earlier by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for the Texas Medical Board, part of an investigation into legendary running coach Alberto Salazar, a Houston-based endocrinologist named Dr. Jeffrey Brown, and cheating by Nike-sponsored runners, including some of the world’s best athletes. The information Hart received was part of an unfolding story of deception which began when Steve Magness, an assistant to Salazar, broke the omertà—the Mafia-like code of silence about performance-enhancing drugs among those involved—and alerted USADA. He was soon followed by Olympians Adam and Kara Goucher who risked their careers to become whistleblowers on their former Nike running family in Beaverton, Oregon. Combining sports drama and business exposé, Win at All Costs tells the full story of Nike’s running program, uncovering a corporate win-at-all-costs culture.

A groundbreaking traveling exhibition, Out of the Box showcases sneakers, from the mid-nineteenth century to sports performance breakthroughs, to present-day cultural icons. Drawn from the collection of the Bata Shoe Museum and significant private collectors, museums, and archives—including adidas AG, Converse Archives, Kosow Sneaker Museum, Nike Archives, Northampton Museums and Art Gallery, and Reebok Archives—this selection is richly contextualized with interviews and essays by design innovators, sneaker collectors, and cultural historians, creating a backdrop of the technical innovation, fashion trends, social history, and marketing campaigns that shaped the form over the past two centuries. Out of the Box includes sneakers ranging from an 1860 spiked running shoe, a pair of 1936 track shoes, Air Jordans I–XX3, the original Air Force 1, and early Adidas Superstars to contemporary sneakers by prominent figures including Damien Hirst, Jeremy Scott, Jeff Staple, and Kanye West. The book also highlights sneakers and prototype drawings that span the career of Nike sneaker design legend Tinker Hatfield, making this the definitive illustrated history of sneaker culture.

This book is one of the first to take an in-depth look at how an advertising image works. It situates the Nike swoosh logo in terms of political economy, sociology, culture and semiotics. Nike Culture describes and deconstructs the themes and structures of Nike′s advertising, outlines the contradictions between image and practice, and explores the logic of the sign economy. In addition, by focusing on issues revolving around representations of race, class and gender, the desire for both community and recognition, and the construction of sport as a spiritual enterprise, the book offers insights into the cultural contradictions embedded in sports culture.