This Much I Learned: Former Nike CMO Greg Hoffman on creative leadership

Greg Hoffman remembers the first time he interacted with Nike as a 14-year-old, saving up for a pair of used Air Force 1 trainers.

Despite loving the brand, he had no concept of what a career in marketing might look like prior to joining Nike as a design intern in 1992 aged just 22. The youngest member of the design team, he rose quickly through the ranks to become creative director, CMO and head of global brand innovation.

The early decades at the sports giant taught Hoffman to become a brand steward and consumer advocate first, and a designer second.

He took this philosophy into a string of high-profile marketing roles over his two decades with the company, creating the first brand film to reach 1 million views on YouTube with Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho, to developing the game-changing ‘Dream Crazy’ campaign with NFL star and activist Colin Kaepernick.

Now an author, Hoffman explains why restrictions can be joyful and why innovation is driven by empathy, curiosity and fearlessness. In this podcast, he also discusses the value of brand identity excellence, focusing on the details and why an obsession with ‘content’ is devaluing storytelling.

From opening up about mental health issues to closing the career confidence gap, you can listen to previous episodes of Marketing Week’s This Much I Learned podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify.