Random Culture

Nike Supersonic

Nike has launched a MySpace community, which can be found at www.NikeSupersonic.com. The community supports a special invite-only run in London for 1,000 runners and 2,000 of their friends. It was designed by AKQA in London.

Nike: The Second Coming

Nike has launched a new site, The Second Coming, that allows users to create a "mash-up" video for their AF25 basketball shoes. While the whole "consumer generated" TV spot idea is nothing new, it's a very well-done website, and worth checking out. One of the great things they've done is allow users to post the completed mash-up on their own blogs or MySpace pages, which certainly leverages the true consumer-generated power of the campaign.

Link via Adverblog.

Converse Russia Site

This is an amazing site for Converse in Russia. Sure, you might not be able to understand what the heck is going on, but this is quite a unique site that's fun to explore. Definitely worth checking out.

Designed by the folks at Red Keds Studio in Moscow.

New Nike Air Site

Nike has launched a really nice looking new site for Nike Air. It's good because it's beautiful, although you might get bored pretty quickly.

I hear that Big Spaceship was involved in creating this one.

Converse.com Redesigns

Converse has just launched a nice website redesign. Check it out at: www.converse.com.

Nike & Apple = Nike+

Nike and Apple have teamed up to create shoes that integrate with your iPod. You basically get audio feedback about your performance, and software that tracks it. Pretty interesting stuff. Learn more by checking out the great website they built at: Nike.com/nikeplus/.

And oh yeah, Nike USA redesigned their homepage, too.

Nike Needs Blog Lessons

Nike recently launched a blog for Nike Basketball: blog.nikebasketball.com. But it looks like they forgot to actually devise a plan to keep it updated.

This is one of the bigger mistakes that many companies make when they decide to take the plunge into the blogosphere. A blog that isn't updated is as good as dead. This doesn't mean you have to update the blog every day, but at least make your posting consistent so your audience knows what to expect, and you're encouraging repeat visits. Nike has clearly not done this. On the Nike Basketball blog, there are a flurry of posts at the end of February surrounding a hall of fame ceremony in Houston, but nothing after that.

Now, I can't say that updating frequency is the only issue with this site. The content also seems a little weak to me, and lacks a unique voice. I think the potential for Nike publishing a blog like this is huge, but the execution hasn't been so great.

Link via Adverblog.

Chocolate Sneakers

Are these the world's first chocolate sneakers? Al Cabino, a regular contributor to Sneaker Freaker magazine, has teamed up with a Swiss chocolate maker to create these unique kicks... more to come.

Nike iD Blogger Contest

The Nike iD site has been promoted pretty heavily as of late. Now, Nike has launched a contest, inviting 20 sneaker bloggers to customize a Nike iD shoe. Users can visit this site to vote on the pair they like the best, and the top design will win the designing blogger 100 free pairs of their shoe.

Link via Cool Hunting.

Design Your Chucks

Converse has launched a website to design and order your own Chuck Taylors... pretty cool, and about time! You can build your own pair here.

The weird part is that the interface looks like they either ripped off the look and feel of the build your own on the Nike ID site... or they hired Nike to build it for them... or they hired the company that Nike hired...

Update: Cameron pointed out in the comments that Nike owns Converse... duh.

Nike iD: Mobile Billboard

Nike has a great outdoor advertisement in Times Square.

Using the Reuters billboard, users can customize a Nike iD shoe using their mobile phone. Clickz has a great article on the campaign. The New York Post also has an article.

In addition, Fimoculous points to a picture of the billboard.

New Umbro Site

Soccer lovers in the US may be more familiar with the Umbro brand than most folks. But that's no excuse for not watching what Umbro is doing. They've launched a great site for a line of clothing, accessories and shoes in collaboration with Kim Jones, a London fashion designer. While some of the cartoony stuff may be an acquired taste, at the very least, the site is an interesting execution. Visit the site at: http://www.umbro-contrast.com

Link via The Brilliance.

New Adidas Tennis Site

Adidas recently launched a great new Tennis site. The site was designed by www.fork.de.

Mi Adidas

Adidas has launched their own "customized" sneaker program, Mi Adidas... Instead of just customizing the colors of the shoes and adding some personalization, they're also fitting the shoes using a computer aided system to measure your feet.

The drawback? It looks like you can't order customized shoes online... It seems that Adidas has taken the position that this isn't as much about style as athletics. I think that may be strategic error on their part.

Link via PSFK.

New Nike Soccer Site

 

In more shoe news, Nike has launched an amazing new Nike Soccer site. There's a really great hand-drawn element to the design of the site.

The folks responsible?  Odopod and ourcommon ( aka. Peter Reid)

Adidas "Hyperride"

Adidas has launched a new microsite for a new shoe called the "Hyperride." What sport is this shoe aimed at? It's none of the usual suspects. Rather, it's targeted towards Parkour... also known as Free Running.

Of additional interest is a feature on the site for a Free Running game that will be launched on the new PSP handheld from Sony. It looks like Adidas is doing in-game product placement for that title...

Sneaker Freaker

I've posted about sneakers before, but since the trend only seems to be growing in popularity, how about another one? Sneaker Freaker Magazine is a great resource for all things "sneaker"...