I'll take the yellow and blue, no wait, maybe the black...

By now has everyone seen or heard about NikeiD? If not, let me explain. NikeiD lets average Joes like myself play make-believe rock star by allowing consumers the ability to customize their shoes and apparel. Always wanted to rock your initials on a pair of kicks? Now you can. Always liked the way purple and green looked together, but could never find a shirt with that color combination? Now you can have Nike make one just for you.

This, in my opinion, is genius. The Marketing folks at Nike have uncovered a key branding truth here. Your Brand is not what you say it is. It's what your customers say it is. We've all heard that "Perception is reality" and from a branding standpoint, this is absolutely true. Granted marketers can attempt to influence and control their brand perception through various marketing strategies, but the bottom line is that people will always view your brand through their lense.

By allowing consumers to customize their hightops, muscle shirts soccer cleats, etc., Nike has found a way to give consumers the Nike brand as a blank canvas and then provided a way for customers to express themselves using the brand. Brilliant.