It's taken a bit of time, but Nike has finally seen fit to reissue some of their classic puddle jumpers from the 1970s. I distinctly remember my father buying the pair above in about '77 or so, in the wake of a mid-life, high-blood-pressure crisis. And so it was that we became a running family. About 150,000 Turman-family miles or so later, Nike has deigned to bring back the shoes that put them on the map in the first place (and my personal map, more specifically).
The site that they launched in support of this does a pretty good job of capturing the quirkiness of the Running Boom in the digital space. They have always been regarded as a brand that "gets it" in terms of online content, but this campaign actually goes one step further. At least for me. It's entertaining in a general sense for the benefit of hipsterdom at large, while being specific enough with the humor and authenticity to make some of us oldy moldies a tad nostalgic.
See what I mean here.
Daniel Turman
Strategists & Planners
Comments (2)
I'm old enough that I remember the Nike waffles coming out when I was just starting to run track. Man, at the time people looked at them the same way they looked at iPods when they first came out decades later. Mind blowing. It took less to amazing people then I guess.
They've done a great job with the design -- not only is the font use just right, they've managed to capture the way the pre-computer type was so often laid out at the time: note the super big indents on the paragraphs for example.
Two tiny things: interesting how that runner on the cover looks like the legendary Steve Prefontaine. He's not mentioned directly, but he was coached by Bill Bowerman. And, play with the page turning effect a little by clicking and dragging around; it's really very well done, much more sophisticated than the basic "flip" one usually sees.
Posted by Elliott | August 7, 2007 9:50 AM
Posted on August 7, 2007 09:50
I was wondering about the Prefontaine thing too. I'm guessing his family didn't want his name used. But you are spot on about the iPod effect these first-gen waffle trainers had. It's hard to even remember what people ran in before these came out. It really was a cultural moment.
Posted by danielturman | August 7, 2007 10:16 AM
Posted on August 7, 2007 10:16