Real Talk: Sam Jackson, Global Brand Narrative Director at Nike
Sam Jackson is the Global Brand Narrative Director at Nike. He leads creative and narrative for the brand’s social channels, catering to an audience of 100million+ followers.
We caught up with Sam to discuss storytelling, working with 80-year old basketball playing grandmas, moving to Portland from London and everything in between.
Enjoy!
Zack
Hey Sam! How’s it going? Where are you and what are you feeling right now?
Hey mate! I’m good thanks. I am currently sitting in my front room in the beautiful Portland, Oregon with a glass of Rosé. It’s the end of a very busy day. It has been raining on and off all day - although it’s heating up so there’s that amazing spring smell! As you can imagine, with the world literally turned upside down, we are in a bit of crisis mode here.
What challenges are you currently facing personally and as a brand?
I would say that both myself and the Brand (Nike) are having to make some major adjustments.
Personally, I am adjusting to having to be pretty strict with my time. We are in self-isolation too, so no one is at the office. Waking up, exercising and sitting down at a desk 20ft away from your bed suddenly becomes way harder than you would expect! I am also spending way too much time with my cats and in sweatpants.
Brand wise, we are having to adapt in different ways. We were gearing up for the Olympics in July, one of Nike’s (and the world’s) largest sporting events, which obviously got cancelled recently. On top of this, the only safe way people are able to stay fit and healthy is to work out in their own homes! This means pivoting on pretty much all the creative and messaging across the board. It has been a hard few weeks, to say the least, but it shows you how fragile both this industry and the world really is.
Epic job title! Tell us what it’s all about.
Narrative is key for a brand like Nike. The company is built on one of the strongest (and longest-serving) brand narratives around, Just Do It. Therefore, the narrative is king [or queen] in pretty much all creative areas of the business.
My role is 50% strategy and 50% content creation. For the past 6 months, I have been on a bit of an around-the-world tour, shooting a series of short documentaries with some incredible subjects. These ranged from a dancer in China who’s become an online sensation to the first female Muslim referee in the UK and a group of 80-year-old grandmothers from Mexico who have been playing basketball together for 60 years. As you can imagine, meeting all these amazing people is one of the best parts of the job. At Nike there are a lot of jobs focused on selling shoes, however, my department is one of the only ones that is focused on inspiring athletes all over the world to get up and give sports a try. A true inspiration role.
How are you having to adapt the way Nike tells stories during this time?
It’s an interesting challenge. No one can go outside or travel to capture stories. We are relying pretty heavily on user-generated content, which is turning out really interesting! We are moving forward with the narrative “Play Inside / Play for the World” at the moment, which is inspiring a lot of everyday athletes, such as you and I, to keep moving indoors.
Any recent work you’re especially proud of?
As I mentioned, I think one of the most rewarding bits of work that I have worked on recently was a story based in Orizaba, Mexico with a group of the most hilarious women I’ve ever met. They are a group of [mainly] 80-year-olds who have been playing in the same basketball team together for 60 years!
Myself, my creative partner and our producer flew out to Mexico City, hooked up with a security detail (one-armed guard per person) and travelled by car 4 hours into the centre of Mexico, where we arrived at this beautiful mountain town named Orizaba. We spent 4 days living with these Abuela’s, documenting their lives, and the amazing team they play in. We watched them play (and they were amazing!), spent time with them in their homes and even danced with them at a potluck for one of the players' 85th birthdays.
We intended to go there to just capture a short, 10-minute documentary and a photo essay, but it ended up being one of the best experiences of my life.
You can watch the short film on Instagram or on YouTube and see a series of images here.
You moved from London to Portland to work for Nike. Tell us about the transition period and what it’s like for you now.
My wife and I have been here for 2 years now and it’s been a fantastic experience so far. After living in London for years, coming to a new, much smaller city was a pretty big shock for us initially. We had gone from the madness of London streets to sprawling forests on our doorstep. Drive an hour east and you can Ski on Mt.Hood, one of the largest volcanoes in the USA. Drive an hour west and you’ll find yourself on a beach, where you can surf, or grab very fresh fish and chips.
Of course, we miss the culture, the creative climate and nightlife 🍾 that London has to offer, and we will be back one day, but for now, this has been a really nice and life-changing transition for both of us. Learning a new way of life, learning how to slow down and meeting a whole host of new and interesting people are some of the highlights of moving away from ‘home’.
I also get to travel a lot for work, which has been a great outlet for creativity. Los Angeles is just a 2-hour flight away, so I’m never too far away from a proper arts district.
You went from being a Junior Designer at a small British retailer to Global Brand Narrative Director at Nike in under 7 years. What’s your secret?
If I had to create a checklist (and I do f*cking love a list, so you aren’t really twisting my arm here) this is what would be on it:
Ball-breaking hard work
Goal setting (Make lists)
Learning, adopting and then adapting. Keep researching and innovating on everything you do.
Building the right relationships (and not burning bridges)
Sticking to a set of key principles
Enjoy yourself, love what you do and keep positive
Embrace digital
And finally, not being afraid to ask for what you want!
How was the transition from a more hands-on, design-led role to what you do now?
It was easy, to be honest.
I was never the best designer, and I struggled practically through university. I’ll be the first to admit, my technical design skills are not my strong point, however, my skill lies with identifying a problem and then formulating and executing a solution. It has been quite an organic process - all of my job titles up until this point have included the word ‘design’ in it, however, I have been doing progressively less and less design in each job I get.
Having said that, having a design degree has helped so much. I can brief and feedback on graphical work and keeping up with the basics of coding, photography and cinematography has helped me become a better all-round creative.
Where do you find inspiration?
Social media is my main source of inspiration. I spend a little too much time scrolling through Instagram and clicking through videos on YouTube - but honestly, that is where the best creatives are now. Millions of videos and photographs are uploaded to social media each day, coming from all over the world. Every person with a phone in their hand is now a creator, and it's amazing to see the ways people are expressing themselves.
I also find it really easy to spot the most up-to-date and culturally relevant trends while online, mainly thanks to Memes. It’s the way we (and especially the younger generations) are talking, sharing and creating nowadays.
To stay as relevant as possible, I insert myself into that ever-changing conversation.
What’s happening in the creative industries currently that is blowing your mind?
Innovation. I am loving seeing every company out there adapting to the new world we now live in. Companies such as Louis Vuitton who are now using their perfume factories to produce hand sanitizer. New Balance, Burberry and Nike who are all using their resources to produce face masks and protective clothing. Small independent businesses adapting to the changes, for example, a local restaurant creating fun ‘meals in for 2’ with curbside pick-up or yoga studios turning to Twitch to hold live yoga sessions. I think it’s a fascinating time for all of the creative (and every) industry, and it’s been awesome to watch all of the ways that people are adapting to it.
What’s your vision of the future, based on where we are today?
If you had asked me 6 months ago, I would have said a slow and fun trajectory towards artificial intelligence and an inevitable robot apocalypse... However, since the virus and subsequent quarantine, we are now on the verge of another industrial revolution aren’t we! Industries are having to adapt at a super-fast rate.
Last night I joined Club Quarantine, a nightclub via Zoom. It was amazing! 500 people all dancing in their living rooms with their webcam on to one DJ’s mix (she was also on the call). What I am most interested in is what happens next. Will I continue to party in my living room? What happens when we are all allowed to go outside again? Will we go back to before all of this happened? Or will we be living a new kind of life?
I think I have more questions than answers...but I am excited either way.
Finally, is there anything you’d like to say to a bunch of creatives on the internet?
One day you will die. Soooo make the most of it.
Connect with Sam on LinkedIn or Instagram