It’s 2003 and Hip-Hop’s reign of popular culture is cemented. It’s impact is resonating as it’s artists top the charts, sponsor international brands and influence buying trends. It’s that year that Athlete’s World approached me about creating a in-store re-design and marketing initiative to refresh their brand and create a connective between their buys and their market (their buying team was, young, trail blazing and way ahead of the curve showcasing premium urban brands in big-box outlets in urban centers and suburban malls). It was a bold move on their part but thankfully the brand had youth in the corporate office which pushed hard for a young guy like me to be the one to direct this campaign. This was my first project fresh out of school and one that I am to this day very proud of.

As a response to the needs of the brand I conceived “The World Is Yours”. I looked to create a dynamic campaign of both substance and weight- a visual, and message that was authentic and resonated deeply into our culture. I sought out young talent, that like myself were currently, or were about leave an indelible mark on the world. The tag line was a double entendre (Nas’ song and the film Scarface were the undertone) spoke to the culture saying that this store is yours and that the world at large is yours to conquer as well. I enlisted a collective of young upstarts that would later go on to blaze paths for the culture.

Bellow are some of the examples of the in store graphics used nationwide exposing the country to these faces.

Tré from So You Think You Can Dance

Gavin Sheppard from The Remix Project

Rochester aka Juice from The 411 Initiative For Change and ACCHO HIV/AIDS Awareness

Pasha from Nelly’s “Hot In Herre” among many others…

S.™

Tags: ctv, gavin sheppard, global gav, hot in herre, nelly, pasha, remix project, rochester aka juice, so you think you can dance, Stirling, tre

This entry was posted on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 12:01 am and is filed under Advertising, Design, Fashion, Retail. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.