Emotion By Design

Creative Leadership Lessons from a Life at Nike

By: Greg Hoffman

Narrated by: Greg Hoffman

Innovative strategies for success from former Nike CMO Greg Hoffman, who had a major hand in crafting Nike’s singular brand and was instrumental in its most high-profile breakthrough campaigns.

In EMOTION BY DESIGN, Hoffman shares lessons and stories on the power of creativity drawn from almost three decades of experience within Nike. A celebration of ingenuity and a call-to-arms for brand-builders to rediscover the human element in forming consumer bonds, EMOTION BY DESIGN is an insider’s guide to unlocking inspiration within a brand and building stronger emotional connections with consumers, using Hoffman’s three favorite guiding principles:

• Creativity is a Team Sport
• Dare to be Remembered
• Leave a Legacy, Not Just a Memory

Over the course of a twenty-seven-year Nike career—from intern to Chief Marketing Officer—Hoffman led teams in shaping and expressing Nike’s brand voice and identity through storytelling and experiences. Every story was distinct, yet the result was always the same: a strong emotional attachment between products and people—quite literally emotion by design.

With fascinating stories about Nike’s most famous campaigns, EMOTION BY DESIGN shares Hoffman’s philosophy and principles on how to create an empowering brand that resonates deeply with people by unlocking the creativity within your organization and unleashing it out into the world.

Critic reviews

"The branding lessons in Greg Hoffman’s EMOTION BY DESIGN are invaluable for any business, big or small, and it gives you a blueprint for how Nike has created such strong emotional bonds with its consumers. Essential knowledge here.”

—Daymond John, New York Times bestselling author and co-star of "Shark Tank"

“A brand isn't a logo, it's a story. In this guidebook plus memoir, Greg helps us see how a commitment to our creative practice can make any story better.”
—Seth Godin, author of THE PRACTICE

“EMOTION BY DESIGN is Greg Hoffman's transformative and intensely personal journey building one of the world's most important, groundbreaking brands. It's a must-read if you work with creatives, and if you want to unlock their unique genius to build authentic brands and waves of support across your entire company.”
—Laszlo Bock, author of WORK RULES!

"Over his long career at Nike, Greg has implemented the art of design, simplicity, and creative collaboration, to connect to Nike’s millions of loyal consumers ... This inspirational approach, brought to life in the book, has been Greg’s legacy, and it’s given Nike a tremendous edge over its global competition.”—Bob Greenbery, Founder and Executive Chairman of R/GA

"Filled with remarkable stories from Greg Hoffman’s time at Nike, EMOTION BY DESIGN offers a distinctive framework that will help marketers and creatives connect with their audiences like never before. Highly recommended."—Jonah Berger, author of CONTAGIOUS

story telling

stories drag and take long to deliver the message. Not very educational. too long of a storu

Great Listen

My 9 year old goes on walks with me and chose to listen to this book with me while we walked. while I'm sure many of the concepts went over his head, he really enjoyed listening, too, and still mentions the big foot story!

Excellent book on branding and starting a brand

Excellent book on branding and starting a brand and building a community with your brand. .

Fun journey thru Nike marketing

Really enjoyed the behind the scenes stories about so many great Nike marketing campaigns. Top takeaway: you can be cautious, you can be creative, but you can’t be a cautious creative.

Fascinating story and outlook

An amazing look at Greg’s career trajectory, approaches to DE&I and the creative process to some classic Nike campaigns. Highly enjoyed!