“Now more than ever,” I said, “it’s important for a brand to be more human in this age of automation.”

Throughout this book, we’re going to be talking a lot about the process by which we do this: How do we tell the most effective story to connect with our consumers? Where do we start? What are we looking for? But before we get to those stories, we first need to lay the foundation.

Nike City Knife 2

3. MAKE THE MOVIE POSTER What’s the movie poster of your idea? How can you tell your story within an image in an instant? Talking about an idea can only go so far. Get visual, sooner, to bring the team into your idea, and the idea to the consumer.

The man in the center of the photo, flanked by twenty other designers, was Ron Dumas, head of the Image Design team and creator of the Jordan “Wings” poster—which showed a life-size Jordan in his Bulls uniform with outstretched arms, one hand palming a basketball, above a quote from William Blake: “No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wi

Put simply, a brand gains a competitive advantage through its ability to construct powerful emotional bonds with its consumers. I believe this connection can be consistently achieved by cultivating a strong creative culture.

The Product Is the Hero

When I speak about brand identity to my audiences, I often use the metaphor of a picture frame. Your brand identity is how you frame every image, every product, every bit of output from your brand. The frame shouldn’t overshadow the picture—or the thing you’re trying to showcase—but it should contain recognizable elements that would tell anyone thi

the ingredients that go into building the right creative team seem so counterintuitive. But like the Brazil National Football team, if you can get it right, then magic will happen. One cannot appreciate the stories in the pages that follow without first understanding that it all begins with the right team.