Greg Hoffman
101 Great Minds on Music Brands and Behavior
Greg Hoffman, former NIKE Chief Marketing Officer, and founder of brand advisory group, The Modern Arena.
Greg Hoffman is the founder of brand advisory group, The Modern Arena. He is also former Chief Marketing Officer at NIKE. Greg joined Nike as a design intern and rose in the ranks to become the company’s CMO. An industry genius, his transformative strategies established NIKE as one of the most powerful sports Brands in the world.
Mr. Hoffman’s innovative marketing and design execution saw him land in some of the world’s most prestigious publications, including the 50 Most Innovative CMO’s by Business Insider and AdAge’s Power Players annual lists. Similarly, Fast Company recognized him as one of the Most Creative People in Business. Under Greg’s leadership, Nike drove themes of equality, sustainability, and empowerment. For two decades, he was part of NIKE's Black Employees Network Advisory Board and a member of the NIKE Foundation Board of Directors.
“I'm very much into using every interaction between a brand and a consumer as an opportunity to build emotional equity into the relationship. But brands need to have a greater awareness of the challenges of accomplishing that today. I'm sitting here as a passionate member of the industry and don't want to see the ability to build that equity atrophy, especially coming out of the pandemic.”
— GREG HOFFMAN, FORMER NIKE CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, AND FOUNDER OF BRAND ADVISORY GROUP, THE MODERN ARE
Uli Reese: Talk me through your career at Nike.
Greg Hoffman: I grew up with two passions, sport, and art, and was able to exercise both on a daily basis. As an African American, in an all-white suburban school district, I was different, but when I was on the football pitch or had my drawing pencils in hand, I felt comfortable. I say that because who’d have thought I would end up combining those two passions for 27 years with the Nike brand. Out of college, I landed an internship at the Walker Art Centre, the Museum of Modern Art, in Minneapolis. While there, I got a call from Nike. They said: ‘We’ve got a position for you but only if you come this instant’. So I drove out to Nike in my parent's van, and the rest is history. Eventually, I became VP of Brand Design, and then in 2010, I started a six-year run overseeing all the creative functions of marketing. That ramped up into the Chief Marketing Officer role, and in those eight years, we doubled in revenue. In a small way, we helped contribute to that success, because it was the first time, we brought all those different functions that are responsible for how a consumer experiences the brand together as one integrated team. My last role with Nike was as Head of Global Brand Innovation, and then I started The Modern Arena, a brand advisory group. My call to arms is to ensure that the art doesn't get squeezed out of the process of brand building.
Reese: Should brands create or co-create sonic pop culture instead of associating with it?
Hoffman:
“I'm very much into using every interaction between a brand and a consumer as an opportunity to build emotional equity into the relationship. But brands need to have a greater awareness of the challenges of accomplishing that today. I'm sitting here as a passionate member of the industry and don't want to see the ability to build that equity atrophy, especially coming out of the pandemic.”
I love the idea of being able to close your eyes, and based on the signals, whether they're visual or audio, being able to put your finger on who that brand is.
Reese: That said, I'm totally for pulling a big license if it supports the narrative of the campaign…
Hoffman: …or you could argue, as a teenager, my affinity for the Nike brand was born out of the musical partnership that played a starring role in the 1987 Nike Air Revolution commercial. Until then, most brands would hire someone to do a cover but using the Beatles’ Revolution was controversial. There was a lot of legal wrestling, but as a 17-year-old kid, this was the ultimate brand anthem. The song wasn't just a bolt-on to the ad - it was the complete integration of a song to a picture. I have a saying ‘Don't chase cool,’ and as a brand, your authenticity is your cultural currency...
“This was both an inspiring and authentic way for a brand to use music and sound to move people emotionally.”
Reese: Would you agree that the new generation of consumers can smell something that isn't authentic?
Hoffman: No question. The most astute consumers know when you're faking it. It's interesting how important sonic branding is because, through the consumers’ digital feeds, they can put any brand on mute. You can lose out on an entire way of being a beloved brand versus just a respected brand, or worse, a brand of indifference. For the most part of the first half of my career, I focused on how I wanted people to think about the Nike brand, and the second was about how I wanted the Nike brand to make people feel empowered. When you take on a more selfless role as a brand, you can play a more meaningful role in the consumer's life.
Reese: But nothing is harder than selling music to a client because it’s totally subjective…
Hoffman: Having had to help finalize and approve hundreds of campaigns over the years, I couldn't agree more. Understanding the methods of how to captivate people as a storyteller is fascinating. That's why the partnership between art and science in marketing is so important. They multiply each other. When I say the art is being squeezed out of the marketing process, and believe me, as a small business owner, we use science to understand and serve our consumers in the most meaningful and efficient way possible - but you also need to ask the types of questions that a machine is not going to ask.
Reese: Why do we still question how Nike sounds?
Hoffman:
“It can be challenging for global brands with multiple categories of products to own a signature sound as part of their overall brand identity. It can serve the needs of the consumer better if you have a range to your audible voice. One tone that can speak to the basketball consumer, another that feels authentic to the football consumer, and when necessary, a tone that speaks to everybody at once.”
One area where I believe we did take ownership through a branded audio experience was with the sport of running through the innovation of NIKE+, which was launched in partnership with Apple over 15 years ago. The innovation combined the best of both brands at the intersection of sport and music. We created a whole spectrum of audio-guided runs that literally gave runners a coach in their ear and a branded playlist for motivation. For iconic brands like Nike, there will continue to be more opportunities in the future to create a consistent and distinctive methodology towards sound design.
Reese: If you look at Nike, it’s clear how that human being would look, but can you discuss its sonic fingerprint?
Hoffman: With the challenges of the past year and the call for a stronger focus on social responsibility commitments, brands are reevaluating their voice and identity in the world. Certainly, the role sound plays in that would be part of the conversation. The consumer has higher expectations of brands. When they think of a brand as a person, they expect that person to be a champion for social change and positive cultural impact from now on. This means you will need to exercise your voice differently as a brand than before. We all know that you have to be more than a product as a brand, and that’s more important than ever given the world we’re living in. All the brands are asking questions and evolving their game plan. Nike has always held a unique space in that they could speak on social issues through the lens of sport in a profound way and move people to take action. We spent a lot of time as a team, talking about the brand’s persona and ensuring that we had a range of emotions that the consumer could feel and hear and that this was a brand they could have a conversation with.
Reese: I say now that the voice of authority is no longer an older white guy…
Hoffman: It’s interesting to ponder how that’s addressed through audio when thinking about evolving a brand's personality, and how a brand feels to people, especially those who don’t have the same opportunities. I spent a lot of my time back in the day thinking of how to own the sound of sport; anytime a consumer walked into our Nike stores or went to our website, we're going brand this, they're going to hear it, and it's going to be synonymous with the ‘swoosh’. But today though, you have to ask whose sport is it, and whose standard of excellence is this based on? What's changing is new voices are coming in to define what excellence is, or what a standard looks like. These are questions that I am thinking about as I spend part of my time working with companies on brand identity and experiences and then the other half lecturing, doing workshops, or hosting panels on themes about equity and equality. As we move forward, these areas will need to come together to form the brand persona of the future.
Note: The interview took place in Portland, Oregon, United States, on the 9th of April 2021.
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