Nike's "Find Your Greatness" campaign visually represented being fueled by "the inside" through portraits of athletes with smaller images of themselves actively pursuing their dreams inside the portrait, communicating that their inner drive is what brings them success. Beats' "#ShowYourColor" campaign showed portraits of individuals highlighting their uniqueness through vibrant photography focusing on a single self-expressed attribute. Axe's "Find Your Magic" campaign featured real men demonstrating a wide range of interests and passions, focusing on how they see their own masculinity rather than their physical appearance.

1. Research Question:
What are some brands or brand campaigns that
have expressed being fueled by “the inside” &
how is this represented visually?

2. INITIAL OBSERVATIONS /
SPITBALLING
2
Brands use messaging around “the inside” in different ways…
• Inner Beauty (Dove, Aerie, Lane Bryant, etc.)
• Inner Strength (Nike, Under Armor, etc.)
• Inner Creativity/Originality (Beats by Dre, Converse, etc.)

3. SOME EXAMPLES…

4. Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” campaign focused on athletic greatness,
run during the 2012 Olympics, to demonstrate that even if you play far
away from the excellence of the Olympics, your greatness isn’t any less
important.
Greatness here has no fixed address but is a place within where
every athlete of every level can achieve their own personal success
and shape their own definition of greatness.
The campaign extended across a series of videos promoted through a
YouTube homepage takeover, television commercials played during the
Olympics, and print ads.
Represents: Inner Strength (messages about willpower, competition, focus,
pushing limits, etc)
N I K E | F I N D Y O U R G R E AT N E S S

6. Print and OOH imagery representing Nike’s version of “the inside” were
similar to our concepts, featuring:
• Portraits of athletes, with smaller images of themselves actively
following their dreams/achieving their greatness within the portrait.
• Communicates that the person’s inner drive and grit is what brings them to their greatness.
Nothing else matters except for what they have inside of them, which is all them.
• This literally illustrates Inner Strength by showing strong imagery of themselves within a larger
portrait.
• Large, bold statements that are inspirational and get the point across,
quick and blunt.
I M A G E R Y | N I K E

7. Beats set out to shift the perception of headphones as a utility to an
essential part of self expression. To do this, they turned the product
attribute of color into a statement of personality for individuals.
Enter, #ShowYourColor – a rallying cry for self expression.
Represents: Inner Originality (messages of creativity, self expression,
uniqueness)
B E AT S B Y D R E | # S h o w y o u r c o l o r

9. Formula:
Color = Expression.
This was presented through a simple visual language.
Portraits of individuals highlighted their uniqueness through vibrant and
up-front photography, showing people expressing their fierce, oddball,
goofy, or serious selves.
This imagery communicates “the inside” less literally than Nike’s “Find
Your Greatness” campaign, showing people’s inner vibrancy,
focusing in on a single attribute they give themselves instead of
focusing in on a bunch of things that make up who they are.
I M A G E R Y | B e a t s b y D r e

10. Axe has repositioned it’s advertising messaging from “Smell good, get
the ladies” to focusing on guys’ own self-image, celebrating whatever
his goals are or whatever it is about himself that he takes pride in.
The message behind “Find Your Magic” is about guys finding what
makes them unique, whether that’s a hobby, a style, or physical
attribute – all championing how they see their masculinity and how they
define it.
Represents: Inner Originality & Inner Beauty (messages about staying true to
yourself, inner passions being reflected into outward beauty, positive self-image)
A X E | F i n d y o u r M A G I C

12. Axe ditched the old visual formula of:
BEING HOT + HAVING ABS + SMELLING GOOD = BEING SURROUNDED BY GIRLS
• Now, they’ve adopted imagery of real men who demonstrate a wide range of interests,
passions, and modes of self expression.
• In the case of the video advertisement for the campaign, men of different types are shown
in a wide range of situations, ranging from grooming a bushy beard to dancing in high heels
to making pizza to doing equations on a blackboard. It shows very honest and earnest
images of masculinity, focusing less on a surface level appearance of these men but
instead, showing them for who they really are and how they see themselves.
I M A G E R Y | A X E

13. C O N V E R S E | B R A N D S T R AT E G Y
Three Strategic Breakthroughs for Converse:
#1: To create is to reveal your true authentic self. There is nothing harder than this. Self
expression reveals the truth of it’s creator’s personality. Creativity often feels like an outpouring from
within, visceral. Converse plays a crucial role in this very moment for their target market - “Core
Creatives”
#2: Chucks exist at the moment you say to the world, “This is me, motherfucker”. Converse
comes into it’s own precisely at the moment when people express their true authentic selves to the
world. They’re never more sure about who they are than when they’re wearing Chucks.
#3: Converse is the only brand defined by the creativity of the people who wear it. Every pair of
Chucks is unique in it’s own way. Whether ripped, scuffed, doodled on, paint splattered, or completely
clean, each pair tells a story about the person wearing them. When you open a box of Chucks, you
are not opening a box of sneakers; you’re opening a blank canvas.
(WARC, Goodall & Franklin)

14. Converse’s Made by You campaign is a celebration of self-expression told
through the lens of Chuck Taylor.
The brand created imagery around Sneaker Portraits which manifested in
the form of print ads, billboards, and even hand painted murals. Each
Sneaker Portrait told a story about the person who wore the sneakers -
celebrities and everyday creative types alike.
Represents: Inner Originality (creativity, self-expression, marching to the beat of your
own drum).
C O N V E R S E | C o n v e r s e . M a d e b y y o u .

16. Converse illustrated the idea of “the inside” by externalizing people’s creative
insides, using Converse shoes as the vehicle.
In this case, it’s not only the wearer’s style being portrayed – it’s their story and
personality as reflected through the armor they wear on their feet day-to-day.
This is a unique spin on the “inside” being visualized through portraits on people –
instead, it’s portraits of things that are valuable to people and are a bigger part of
their lives (and their selves) than they may realize.
I M A G E R Y | C O N V E R S E