16 March 2015

Fascinating Story Behind Nike's ‘Just Do It’ Slogan Involves A Criminal

[Click here to view the video in this article]







Did you know, the popular Nike’s “Just do it” slogan was based on a criminal’s last words?



Dezeen unveils the story behind Nike’s slogan in an interview with Dan Wieden, co-founder of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, at the Design Indaba conference held in Cape Town last month.



Wieden told Dezeen how he remembered struggling to come up with a tag line that would tie together the different TV commercials for the sportswear brand in 1988.



“I was recalling a man in Portland,” said Wieden, “He grew up in Portland, and ran around doing criminal acts in the country, and was in Utah where he murdered a man and a woman, and was sent to jail and put before a firing squad.”



When asked what were his final thoughts, the murderer’s last words were “Let’s do it”, but Wieden changed it to “Just do it” instead, and explained how he convinced Nike co-founder Phil Knight to accept his idea, along with the Nike’s “Swoosh” logo that helped propel the sportswear into a global brand.



After almost three generations, the company is still using the slogan—Campaign magazine said the tagline linked Nike with success, making consumers believe they could be successful too by using its line of products.



Head over here to read the full interview .



Click play on the video below to see the first commercial that featured the slogan.







[via Dezeen]