02 — Just Do It (or Don’t)
The Nike ‘Just Do It’ campaign turns 35 next year.
The original TV spot featured the legendary San Francisco Bay Area runner Walter Stack, who was 80 years old when the commercial hit.
Stack jogged 17 miles every day before going to work as a construction laborer. Yep. San Francisco. Every day. 17 miles. 80 years old.
That’s hardcore.
Nike said everyone is an athlete. Working out makes you feel good about yourself and better than your neighbor. Stop procrastinating. Just do it.
The campaign did it.
It turned the struggling brand around.
Nike Did It
There was a big aerobic exercise trend in the ’80s.
Think Jane Fonda’s workout videos, the song ‘Physical’ by Olivia Newton-John & the movie ‘Perfect’ with Jamie Lee Curtis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOHZTf3H1ik
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDGvSZb9syw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egtOxOSgFBQ
Ha-ha…the ’80s.
But Nike missed it.
Reebok kicked their ass.
Nike responded by cutting costs, solving problems, and the now iconic campaign.
Following the campaign launch in 1988, Nike’s domestic US shoe sales went from $877 million to $9.2 billion over the next 10 years. Not bad.
The Consumers Mostly Don’t
While Nike did it with the campaign, turning the business around, the people who buy the shoes mostly don’t do it.
They don’t use them for what they’re intended. It’s understood.
Nike is a marketing company.
They’re selling the aspiration.
The shoes are part of the whole vehicle of that aspiration, and that’s cool.
It’s a great aspiration. It’s a call to any action. Whether you’re re-potting plants or running across the Golden Gate Bridge every day.
Sources
Connor Brooke — https://www.business2community.com/branding/just-turns-25-nike-profitable-tagline-time-0607709
Jerome Conlon — https://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/5-lessons-from-working-on-nikes-just-do-it/
Harvard Business Review — https://hbr.org/1992/07/high-performance-marketing-an-interview-with-nikes-phil-knight
Sports Illustrated — https://vault.si.com/vault/1975/12/15/the-old-man-and-the-bay
Original Walter Stack Commercial — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yO7xLAGugQ
