Billie Eilish — 9 Grammys, 2 Oscars, 100M+ Spotify monthlies. Born 2001, signed to Darkroom/Interscope, produced by brother Finneas. The anti-endorsement brand playbook: Nike vegan AF1, Gucci, Apple Music — plus the deals she refused.
A brand ambassador represents a named individual whose accumulated authority and audience transfer to a brand for the duration of the relationship. Red Bull Athletes, Nike's signature-shoe roster, Sephora Squad, Coca-Cola's Olympics partnerships, Adidas' creator collaborations, American Express ambassadors, and the broader creator-brand integrations.
Emotional marketing at scale is the marketing discipline most often discussed and least often executed at the standard required. Coca-Cola's Hilltop, polar bears, and Holiday Truck. McDonald's I'm Lovin' It and Famous Orders. Nike's Just Do It, Jordan, and Kaepernick. The three canonical cases and what brand and PR teams across the broader category should be taking from them.
Wieden+Kennedy is the canonical independent creative agency of the modern era. Founded 1982 in Portland, built the campaigns that defined modern brand marketing — Nike "Just Do It," Old Spice, ESPN, Honda "The Cog." The 43-year Nike relationship demonstrates what selecting an agency actually looks like.
The 2019 NFL workout for Colin Kaepernick — the venue switch, the parallel PR campaigns, and what the episode taught about athlete protest, league counterparty risk, and brand activism. EPR's canonical Kaepernick case study inside the Sports PR pillar.
The 2015-2018 Adidas surge, the PR firms behind Adidas, Nike, and Under Armour, the Yeezy unwind, and the 2023-2026 Samba and Gazelle revival that reshaped the athletic apparel category.
The strongest PR operators of the modern era — Trump, Kim Kardashian, Elon Musk, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, Nike, and American Express. The curated index of EPR's deepest coverage.
China is in the middle of one of the most consequential sneaker booms in modern global retail. Nike and Adidas continue to dominate. Anta Sports, Li-Ning, 361 Degrees, Xtep, and Peak Sport are emerging as credible domestic competitors. Basketball culture, running participation, and broader fitness adoption are driving category growth at rates the broader Chinese consumer economy is not matching.
Avery Dennison is filed mentally as office supplies. The reality is an $8.7B Fortune 500 technology company powering RFID and supply-chain visibility for Walmart, Inditex, Nike, and most of the global apparel category. The communications gap and what fixes it.