Drieke Leenknegt is a Global Brand Innovator and Marketing Executive who worked at Nike for twenty years. Her work has been crucial in Nike's early development of Nike Sportswear, Nike Energy Marketing and Nike collaborations to name a few. The Belgium native describes her path to Nike as more "non-linear" in that her career had a more sporadic trajectory, having worked in radio and advertising before landing a role in their communications department.
She would eventually work in various EMEA offices before relocating to their Portland office where she most recently was the Global Vice President of Influencer Marketing and Collaborations. Her imprint can be seen in notable collaborations such as Virgil x Nike's "The Ten", sacai x Nike's LDWaffle and Tom Sachs x NikeCraft Mars Yard and many more. Previously her roles have included Senior Brand Director of Nike Sportswear, Global Energy Director, Global Design Director Global Communications Director and Edge Marketing Leader.
In this episode, Drieke tells us how Nike has stood the test of time, becoming sneaker culture's dominating force. Having worked with Mark Parker, Fraser Cooke and Sandy Bodecker, she shares with us immeasurable words of advice from the "Five Fundamentals Behind a Great Collaboration" to the importance of cross-pollination and story-telling. Later on she discusses that despite sneaker culture's current popularity, there's much more opportunity to be made. She emphasizes that "this is just the beginning".
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For more info: https://hypebeast.com/2020/1/drieke-leenknegt-nike-interview-business-of-hype-jeffstaple-episode-62
Drieke's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drieke3ke/