- Dec 16, 2007
- 55
- 10
I did these back in 96'. I have the original Tiger Woods logo on them, showing just how long ago I did these. I didn't realize it was that long ago, until I read this:
Nathan: How did you manage to land those jobs?
Jeff: "As for the Tiger Woods logo – which, of course, has just as interesting a story behind it – I guess it was a case of being in the right place at the right time… and not sucking at what I do.
Nike had signed Tiger Woods in 1996 after he announced he was turning pro and so Nike wanted to make a big splash by creating an identity and brand for Tiger just as they had for Michael Jordan some ten years earlier so they set to work on it internally.
They arrived at Tiger’s new mark and invited him to see his new logo and the products it was being produced on and… Tiger hated it. In fact, he was pissed that he wasn’t part of the creative process as far as being involved with the actual development and selection.
Meanwhile, Tommy Hilfiger apparently was whispering in Tiger’s ear that if Tiger left Nike and signed with Hilfiger, well, they’d do it right.
Nike rightfully panicked.
In response they assured Tiger they’d fix everything and that he could be right there monitoring the process all along the way and so Nike hired a big-name west coast studio, a big-name east coast studio, and little ol’ me to come up with Tiger’s new mark along with 33 internal Nike designers!
Nike assured Tiger that he could personally review every thumbnail, every chicken-scratch and every bar napkin that had any sort of image on it related to his logo and that he alone would make the selection.
As I understood it, the presentation/selection process took two weeks as there were literally hundreds if not thousands of designs to review. But Tiger plowed through them all and made his choice. Mine wasn’t The One even though Nike wanted it for Tiger but was careful not to steer him lest they piss him off again – as it was, my design was apparently Tiger’s fourth favorite – so in 1997, Nike presented Tiger Woods’ (second) identity to the world and almost immediately there were issues and concerns with it not the least of which had to do with it bearing a striking resemblance to Hyundai’s logo to the point where Nike’s legal department was weighing their options for when, not if, Hyundai raised hell; one of the considerations was that Nike would simply buyout Hyundai for the logo.
Now, jump ahead to 2000 –
I’m sitting at home watching the 2000 US Open and Tiger tees off. Of course, the camera zoomed in on Tiger and there on the front of his cap was… my logo! The one I created in 1997! There! On Tiger Woods’ cap! And shirt!
What. The. HELL?!
On the following Monday I tried to contact the art directors I had worked with on the project, neither of whom were still with Nike by this time, but eventually I tracked one of them down who confirmed that yes, Nike had revisited Tiger’s logo so the art director referred me to the head of Nike Golf whom I had worked with in the past before going out on my own.
I left him a voice mail and sent an email to find out what happened. I even sent him some of my electronic files plus the original design rationale I included in my presentation to Nike (which Nike used virtually verbatim on their website to announce Tiger Woods’ new logo!) to support my claim.
Ron called me back the next day. I think the first words he said were: “Looks like we owe you some more money!
Nathan: How did you manage to land those jobs?
Jeff: "As for the Tiger Woods logo – which, of course, has just as interesting a story behind it – I guess it was a case of being in the right place at the right time… and not sucking at what I do.
Nike had signed Tiger Woods in 1996 after he announced he was turning pro and so Nike wanted to make a big splash by creating an identity and brand for Tiger just as they had for Michael Jordan some ten years earlier so they set to work on it internally.
They arrived at Tiger’s new mark and invited him to see his new logo and the products it was being produced on and… Tiger hated it. In fact, he was pissed that he wasn’t part of the creative process as far as being involved with the actual development and selection.
Meanwhile, Tommy Hilfiger apparently was whispering in Tiger’s ear that if Tiger left Nike and signed with Hilfiger, well, they’d do it right.
Nike rightfully panicked.
In response they assured Tiger they’d fix everything and that he could be right there monitoring the process all along the way and so Nike hired a big-name west coast studio, a big-name east coast studio, and little ol’ me to come up with Tiger’s new mark along with 33 internal Nike designers!
Nike assured Tiger that he could personally review every thumbnail, every chicken-scratch and every bar napkin that had any sort of image on it related to his logo and that he alone would make the selection.
As I understood it, the presentation/selection process took two weeks as there were literally hundreds if not thousands of designs to review. But Tiger plowed through them all and made his choice. Mine wasn’t The One even though Nike wanted it for Tiger but was careful not to steer him lest they piss him off again – as it was, my design was apparently Tiger’s fourth favorite – so in 1997, Nike presented Tiger Woods’ (second) identity to the world and almost immediately there were issues and concerns with it not the least of which had to do with it bearing a striking resemblance to Hyundai’s logo to the point where Nike’s legal department was weighing their options for when, not if, Hyundai raised hell; one of the considerations was that Nike would simply buyout Hyundai for the logo.
Now, jump ahead to 2000 –
I’m sitting at home watching the 2000 US Open and Tiger tees off. Of course, the camera zoomed in on Tiger and there on the front of his cap was… my logo! The one I created in 1997! There! On Tiger Woods’ cap! And shirt!
What. The. HELL?!
On the following Monday I tried to contact the art directors I had worked with on the project, neither of whom were still with Nike by this time, but eventually I tracked one of them down who confirmed that yes, Nike had revisited Tiger’s logo so the art director referred me to the head of Nike Golf whom I had worked with in the past before going out on my own.
I left him a voice mail and sent an email to find out what happened. I even sent him some of my electronic files plus the original design rationale I included in my presentation to Nike (which Nike used virtually verbatim on their website to announce Tiger Woods’ new logo!) to support my claim.
Ron called me back the next day. I think the first words he said were: “Looks like we owe you some more money!
