Tom's piece about curling reminded me of Matt's piece about sport and metaphor and connected with James' words about words and reminded me of a little theory of mine.
I think part of Nike's success is that they have access to an enormously rich and nuanced library of sporting metaphors and analogies. They're all athletes, or at least sport enthusiasts, they use sporting analogies all the time - and with tremendous subtlety. It's not just 'getting over the line' or 'hail Mary passes'. It's much deeper and well constructed than that. There'll be much more delicate use of metaphors - sometimes crossing sports to make precisely the right point. (I can't, of course, think of an example right now.)
This is especially helpful in new territories - when you're doing things that have never been done before and there is no established jargon or terms of art. Naming is important, and importing resonances and meaning from sport is tremendously helpful.
