1. Getting you hair cut at Marios down the Purley Centre
2. Wearing a duffle coat (extra beats delivered if worn with accompanying balaclava - unless SAS style, Nan style doesn't count)
3. Wearing plimsoles
Of course, when you first start at high school as many have this week, you don't quite know the rules yet. They MAKE you wear pumps in junior school, to save the state of the ridiculously shiny school hall that they pride beyond the lives of the children themselves. You've never heard of Marios and if it's cold why not put on a duffle coat - it's warm, right? NO YOU FOOL - none of these choices will endear you to your new classmates who bathe in delight at the social exclusion of the week and naive. I was contemplating this back in 1991 as an 11-yr old walking into school in my duffle coat with brown balaclava pulled tightly round my freshly clipped hair. Eees a number four all-a-over, eh Mario? I was lucky enough to have games (PE) first lesson and I soon realised my faux pas when upon slipping on my light and airy plimsoles after slipping off my duffle coat and exposing my now balaclava-free freshly Mario'd head, my lovely peers unleashed a barrage of abuse. It was unpleasant and I was anxious not to repeat this long term, but what do you do, what CAN you do to reverse your style perception in double quick time? There was only one place to turn - Nike. A fresh pair (my big brothers old pair) of Nike Pegasus and I had hope.
Nike has always been the coolest and whether you wear Nike or not - their position at the top of the trainer ladder is guaranteed. Just like you can depend on the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, politicians being corrupt and petrol prices going up whilst salaries go down, you can depend on the fact that the coolest kids wear Nike trainers. This is in no small part due to their omnipotent marketing team, who gets it right again and again. In 1991 they worked with the makers of Back to the Future 2 to produce a realistic pair of sneakers that might be worn by a 16 year old lad in California 30 years in the future (2015). Whilst Jaws 19 never materialised, hover boards are nowhere to be seen (despite what certain parties insisted in the play-ground at the time) it appears that the Nike team not only got major brand exposure via product placement in the film of that year but also set into motion one of the slowest burning marketing strategies I've ever seen. What am I talking about ya say? Well, behold below the video that shows that Nike are going to release Marty McFly's power lace shoes - the Nike Air MAG! They had a 30yr plan and whichever way you look at it - that's impressive and whenever they become available they are bound to be ridiculously popular.
Here is the link to the patented automatic lacing system which Nike took out last year: http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/search/en/WO2009134858 and the only thing cooler than all this is the promotional gear that Nike sent out to lucky recipients such as the fellows at Nicekicks.com
Please visit this link and take a look - it's just awesome: http://www.nicekicks.com/2011/09/is-nike-taking-us-back-to-the-future
Since I've written this some more has come to light - and whilst it appears the power lace versions are in the pipe-line, for now you can still buy a pair through eBay in support of Michael J Fox's charity endeavours. Visit ebay.com for more details or see below;
