Kickstart Catalog Ideas

Brand:

1: What symbols and signs can be combined to generate a new meaning, representing the product or serviceʼs advantage? The Nike can be used as a checkmark on a checklist to convey the idea of accomplishment (like accomplishing tasks on a list), and communicate the “” concept.

2: What opportunities for ambiguity, double meanings or wordplay are there in the words you use to describe the benefit? The line of could be used to replace the shock paddles used during defibrillation, using the double meaning/wordplay to associate the shoes with reviving life.

3: Can you construct rhymes, puns or other kinds of wordplay from the product or brand, which will underline the subject? For the NIKEiD line of customizable shoes, a list of “Iʼd (or iʼD) like to ______” statements could be depicted, followed by “What is your iʼD? Customize your footwear to fit your fitness goals with NIKEiD.”

4: How can the benefit be depicted by inverting something familiar into its opposite? Using pictures of either acts of laziness, competing brands, or just general bad ideas, invert the tagline to “Just donʼt do it” to contrast it with the positive outcomes of using the brand.

5: How will the product change the userʼs future? Using a split-screen execution, a commercial could show how an internʼs future is different with and without a pair of Nike shoes that he keeps handy to run a crucial errand. (The future with the Nike shoes shows the intern getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, while in the other future he is fired.) The tagline might say “Just in the Nike of time” for an extra wordplay effect.

6: How can the benefit be presented from the viewpoint of things or creatures affected by it? To show the benefit of the Nike Air line of shoes being lightweight, a commercial could show the product from the point of view of a treadmill belt. Each time a certain part of the treadmill belt comes around, it cringes under the impact of other shoes, but with Nike Air, the feels “as light as air” to the personified treadmill.

7: What opportunities for spoofing or parody does the product offer? Do some kind of spoof of the Greek gods planning a war strategy for a major mythical battle. The goddess Nike walks in late (looking very modern & sporty) and when Zeus asks her where sheʼs been, she tells him she took care of their problem. When asked how, she makes some offhanded remark about how she is “you know” the goddess of victory and speed and says something like “I donʼt know… I just did it.” Followed by the “Nike. Just do it.” tagline.

8: How can the product benefit be emphasized by repetition? Just do it. You can do it. Just feel it. Just do your best. You can feel your best with Nike.

9: What can the product or its subject be compared with? For the line of shoes, an ad could be executed showing an open birdcage with a Nike Free shoe “flying” out into the open. Perhaps with a tagline like “Now you can run free.”

10: What slang phrases, metaphors or turns of phrases could be translated literally into a visual image that will get the product or service noticed? The phrases “I killed it” or “I dominated it” that are used commonly to mean accomplishing a task with flying colors could be used to create provocative and unexpected visual cues to attract the targetʼs attention. For example, the “I killed it” phrase could be inspiration for a print ad that looks like a news headline announcing the murder of a specific race or sporting activity. It could name some fictional Nike consumer as the suspect and claim that Nike was known to be an accessory in the crime.