Happy 25th Birthday to Nike’s ‘Just Do It,’ the Last Great Advertising Slogan

Nike's "Just do it" slogan, unveiled 25 years ago this month by Wieden + Kennedy, might be the last great tagline in advertising history.

Yes, other notables have come since—among them, Apple's "Think different" and Volkswagen's "Drivers wanted"—but none have come close to duplicating the cultural impact and mass appeal of "Just do it." I frankly doubt that any ever will.

When 80-year-old Walt Stack jogged across the Golden Gate Bridge in Nike's first "Just do it" spot, chatting about his daily 17-mile run and joking that he kept his teeth from chattering in winter by leaving them in his locker, we lived in a more homogenous media world. At the time it seemed complex and cluttered, with some cable systems sporting 100 or more channels, and the recently launched Fox network broadening the broadcast funnel by 25 percent. All that was small potatoes, however, compared to today's ever-expanding digital/mobile/shareable/wearable mega-sphere, which has turned each consumer into his or her own media production and distribution channel, and to a large extent—despite the vaunted "social" nature of it all—isolated us instead of bringing us together.

Back in '88, a news image, song lyric, sitcom catchphrase or advertising slogan could spring to life in a way that's nearly impossible with today's media fragmentation. Modern content may be "snackable," but for the most part it doesn't stick to the ribs. Most of the lists, memes and apps are quickly, often instantly, discarded. Ideas have no time to build the momentum or gain the traction needed to become ubiquitous or, like "Just do it," beloved.

The "big idea" is, of course, a marketing cliche. It's considered old-school and somewhat outmoded, frequently derided by today's data-driven practitioners. That's a shame. Big ideas are, first and foremost, big. From a brand standpoint, they add rather than subtract, lending weight and substance to campaigns that can become unfocused and diluted by too many moving parts. Big ideas strengthen individual executions and provide platforms that make campaigns more than the sum of their parts.

"Just do it" was one of the biggest ad ideas ever, destined to cut across all conceivable psycho/socio/demographic lines in ways author Dan Wieden couldn't have envisioned when he tossed off the phrase in 20 minutes, concerned that the initial half-dozen ads in the campaign, spotlighting various subjects and different sports, had no unifying message.

"It was a simple thing," Wieden recalls in a 2009 Adweek video interview in which he discusses the effort's genesis. Simplicity is really the secret of all "big ideas," and by extension, great slogans. They must be concisely memorable, yet also suggest something more than their literal meanings. Rather than just putting product notions in people's minds, they must be malleable and open to interpretation, allowing people of all kinds to adapt them as they see fit, and by doing so, establish a personal connection to the brand.

Exchanging tweets is no substitute for helping people think, dream, or in Nike's case do things in a new way. "Just do it" was open to interpretation, and many folks adopted it as their private mantra. And not just in the realm of fitness and exercise. They just did all sorts of things as they strove toward personal goals. These ranged from starting businesses to popping the question, and in some cases extricating themselves from bad relationships. As a result of the line's resonance, Nike's brand image soared.

It's worth noting that "Just do it" is not a typical feel-good marketing tagline. There's a hard-edged, suck-it-up aspect to the phrase that runs counter to most advertising pablum. It's empowering but makes no promises, implying, in fact, that tough, hard work and personal sacrifice might be involved. On that level, it's an honest slogan, more so than most, and that's a big part of its appeal.

Perhaps the line's attitude stems from its ironic and unlikely origin. Wieden says he channeled, of all pop-culture figures, double murderer Gary Gilmore, who in 1977 became the first American executed in a decade, and famously told his executioners "Let's do it!" before facing the firing squad. That says something about the obscure, inexplicable nature of creativity—and brings me to my final point about why we might never see a slogan on the magnitude of "Just do it" again.

Big data doesn't necessarily kill big ideas, but it can thwart inspiration by attempting to quantify the unquantifiable. Because media is so splintered compared to 25 years go, brands will continue to target based on statistics, eschewing bold strokes for brief inroads in the hope of quick sales. Few creative teams "just do it" these days. They study, filter and refine their ideas into narrow bits of communication—lists, memes, apps—which, while seemingly focused and on point, are ultimately fleeting and insubstantial, little more than static.

"Just do it" belongs to an era when brands were brave enough to run with their visions and invite consumers to dream along with them.

    

Leo Burnett Honors Chicago Blackhawks With McDonald’s Hockey-Stick Fries

Would you like an NHL championship with that? Leo Burnett in Chicago found an appetizing way to support the Blackhawks during their Stanley Cup run this summer, creating a special bus-shelter display for McDonald's featuring custom hockey sticks shaped like french fries. The copy reads, simply, "Go Blackhawks." (McDonald's may have had something of a rooting interest—the company is based in Oak Brook, Ill., after all.) As part of the campaign, the chain will donate hockey sticks (though not the actual ones from the ad) to local youth hockey programs.

    

No, Seriously, Golf Is a Real Sport, Says Nike’s New Tiger Woods Ad

Tiger Woods's latest chapter in his blood oath to Nike is this ad from Wieden + Kennedy in which the golfer is compared to a track-and-field competitor, a boxer, a basketball player and a baseball player (referencing Babe Ruth, no less). The idea is to stress golf's athleticism, but all it did for me was reinforce how lethargic golf is compared to sports where people aren't driven around in carts with other people who carry all their stuff. I would like to see how Tiger trains for big tournaments, though, so maybe next time Nike could be less roundabout in its approach. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Nike Golf
Spot "The Sport of Golf"

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Don Shelford + Rob Thompson
Copywriter: Tom Sebanc
Art Director: Derrick Ho
Producer: Felicia Glover
Account Team: Scott Sullivan + Karrelle Dixon
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Susan Hoffman
Agency Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz

Production Company: Bob Industries
Director: Brad Parker
Executive Producer: TK Knowles
Line Producer: Melissa Murphy
Director of Photography: Morgan Susser

Editorial Company: Joint Editorial
Editor: Kyle Valenta
Post Producer: Lauren Pullano
Post Executive Producer: Patty Brebner

VFX Company: The Mission
Executive Producer: Michael Pardee
VFX Supervisor: Mark Kolpack
VFX Producer: Ryan Meredith
CG Lead: Pitor Karwas
VFX: Rob Trent

Music Composer: Philip Glass
Sound Designer: Jeff Payne
Song (if applicable): "67 Cities"

Mix Company: Eleven Sound
Mixer: Jeff Payne
Producer: Caroline O’Sullivan

    

Who’s the Fastest Person on the Internet? The 100-Meter Scroll Aims to Find Out

Not since I used to play Summer Games on the Commodore 64 have I bludgeoned computer hardware in an effort to complete a simulation of a track-and-field event. But now, thanks to two creatives at Grey London, I can do so again—with The 100-Meter Scroll.

"Usain Bolt holds the record as being the fastest person in the real world—100 meters in an astonishing 9.58 seconds," Rasmus Smith Bech and Jonas Roth tell us in an email. "But who is the fastest person on the Internet? The 100-meter scroll game is made to find out exactly that. It's a website where you scroll 100 meters or 283.500 pixels on time. Scroll for fame, scroll to settle an argument, scroll in the hope it becoming an official 2016 Olympic discipline, or just scroll simply because you love to scroll."

I came in at a lousy 1:00:60. Somebody named "Satan" appears to be atop the leaderboard with what looks like an unbeatable time of less than 1 second.

    

JetBlue Aims High With Online Tribute to NBA’s Jason Collins

The outpouring of support has been impressive for NBA player Jason Collins, the first openly gay male athlete in a major U.S. professional sport. Marketers, though, have been largely silent about Collins since yesterday—except for Nike, of course, whom he already endorses. (In a statement, the company said: "We admire Jason's courage and are proud that he is a Nike athlete. Nike believes in a level playing field where an athlete's sexual orientation is not a consideration.") About an hour ago, though, JetBlue posted an image created by its ad agency, Mullen, showing a rainbow image of the "i-people" from the company's "You Above All" brand campaign—to show support for Collins. "Thanks Jason, today we're all on the same team," reads the caption on the image, which was posted to Twitter and Facebook. Response has been mixed, with many fans and followers lauding the airline for supporting Collins and others wishing it had stayed "neutral." The brand's courage here is but a shadow of the player's courage, but it's brave nonetheless. Have other brands come out in support of Collins? Let us know in the comments.

    

Nathan Sorrell, Overweight Jogger From Famous Nike Ad, Loses 32 Pounds

Nathan Sorrell, the heavy kid from Nike's infamous "Jogger" ad by Wieden + Kennedy, has lost 32 pounds since last summer—and plans to lose 30 more. The London, Ohio, native, now 13, returned to the Today show recently and reflected on what motivated him to follow through on a promise he made after the Nike shoot. "I still can't believe that was me then, and this is me now. It just looks a lot different," he says. "I would never have changed my lifestyle if I was never in this commercial. That's not the only reason, but that really did help." Sorrell has been working with a personal trainer and a nutritionist and making healthier choices generally, which has helped him drop from 232 to 200 pounds. On a recent visit to Bob Evans, "I got a turkey sandwich" and a side of fruit, he says. "Usually that would be a double hamburger, cheese and all that bad stuff. Usually, it would be fries. Just stuff like that. Just little changes, but that's obviously carrying me 32 pounds less."

    

Strikeouts Promotion With Reds Is Costing Local Pizza Chain a Whole Lotta Dough

The red-hot pitching arms in Cincinnati are costing one local pizza chain a pretty penny. LaRosa's Pizzeria has already given away $100,000 worth of pizza this season (can't be good for the bottom line) through its "Strikeouts for LaRosa's" campaign with the Reds. The challenge, which is promoted on the Reds scoreboard, is simple enough. Anytime Reds pitchers combine to strike out more than 11 batters in a game at home, every ticket holder gets a free eight-inch pizza valued at $6.79. Not sure which mathematician worked out the algorithm, but 11 K's doesn't seem like much when you have stud starters like Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos and a freak like Aroldis Chapman closing games out. Hope you're hungry, Ohio. Last season, in the first year of the campaign, the Reds had a total of 13 free-pizza games. But this year, just 15 home games into the season, Reds pitchers have K'ed more than 11 batters seven times already. At this rate, it wouldn't surprise me if Ohioans petition to change the Reds logo into a giant pizza.

    

Nike Honors and Challenges Kobe Bryant in Inspirational New Ad

Nike placed this ad in Sunday's Los Angeles Times (and in social media), honoring Kobe Bryant following his season-ending injury. It's classic Nike—simple, rhythmic, inspirational. It's also sly. It reads like a career retrospective, until the last line, when it's revealed to be anything but. From Tiger Woods to Bryant, you can always count on Nike never to be boring. Full text of the ad below.

"You showed us that an 18-year-old could play with the best.
You showed us that a championship, an exhibition game and a charity event are all must-wins.
You showed us how to play chess while others played checkers.
You showed us how to hit game winner after game winner.
You showed us that an 81-point game is a real thing.
You showed us that gold still matters.
You showed us how to take an ice bath.
You showed us how to score 30 points in a quarter, twice.
You showed us the Mamba Face.
You showed us how to demand perfection and demand it of everyone.
You showed us how to put big-boy pants on.
You showed us that you were never out of it. Ever.
You showed us how inspirational a pair of free throws could be.

Now, show us again."

    

NYC’s 5 Boro Bike Tour Pulls Ads Showing Pyrotechnics at Starting Line

Following the bombings in Boston on Monday, New York City's 5 Boro Bike Tour is swiftly pulling all posters advertising its own May 5 race—because of now-inappropriate imagery showing pyrotechnics going off at the starting line. "We had these ads all over the city, and beginning today, the MTA is removing all of them," the group's CEO, Ken Podziba, told Gothamist on Wednesday. "We were getting phone calls and emails from people who thought the ads were inappropriate, and we agreed. The last thing in the world we want to do is offend anybody in a time of tragedy." Podziba said the ad space will probably be left blank—"which I guess is a message in and of itself," he said. "Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We're in solidarity with them."

    

CC Sabathia Is Dwarfed by Scott Van Pelt in ESPN’s New SportsCenter Ad

CC Sabathia is a large man, but he's not technically wearing a fat suit. That latter fact—and not just his slimming New York Yankee pinstripes—gives Sabathia the advantage over the horizontally striped (and comically fat-suited) Scott Van Pelt in ESPN's new This Is SportsCenter commercial from Wieden + Kennedy in New York. Now, if they can combine a fat suit and a mullet, they'll really be breaking new ground.

    

The Complete Taxonomy of College Sports Mascots

We've been in love with taxonomies ever since the agency-name infographic a few months ago. Here's one that's truly stunning to behold—Pop Chart Lab's new Chart of Collegiate Sports Teams. For sale (at $30 a pop) as a 2- by 3-foot poster, the chart claims to offer "a taxonomic breakdown of every collegiate sports team in the United States. From Division I to Division III, from Banana Slugs to Little Giants, there are over 1100 schools charted in six square feet of higher learning." (My beloved Bears of Washington University in St. Louis are represented. Shout if your school's team isn't represented.) There sure are a crapload of Eagles and Tigers and Bulldogs, oh my. But the real gems are found in offshoots like Professions -> Resource Extraction and Self-Referential -> Abstractions. Best place to examine this masterpiece in more detail is on the Pop Chart Lab site itself.

Via Co.Design.

    

Lance Armstrong and Oscar Pistorius Get (Fake) Tiger Woods-Style Nike ‘Winning’ Ads

Does winning take care of everything? Perhaps for Tiger Woods. Probably not for some other athletes who've been on Nike's payroll. Here are some nicely done spoofs of the much-discussed new Tiger ad that put the sports marketer's controversial headline in less comfortable contexts. Two more after the jump—with Michael Vick and (though he was not a Nike endorser) O.J. Simpson. Via.

MLB ‘Fan Cave’ Nerds Out Like Never Before With Fancy New High-Tech Toys

Here's a fun toy for obsessive baseball geeks: the new "Mission Control" installation at MLB's "Fan Cave" space in downtown New York. There, each year, a selection of the sport's most die-hard fans are paid to watch every game and crank out social-media content about the experience, part of a Lord-of-the-Flies-esque competition to get to the World Series. This year, the space also features a custom multi-screen computer rig, built by Breakfast, that's designed to pull in and display a wide range of data about the upcoming baseball season. The smaller screens on the left and right include video feeds of stadiums from American League and National League teams (even when the games aren't in progress). The toggles on the bottom calls up information like weather conditions and wind speeds at each location, as well as relevantly tagged Instagram and Twitter posts about the ballparks and their home teams. The dashboard meters measure stats like total games played and total number of hits for the season. The central monitor connects to a camera that can be used to record and broadcast video clips of the sports stars and other celebrities who stop by for concerts and other events, and of the "Fan Cave" marketing program's less famous participants. Why? Because all you've ever wanted since you were a little kid was to be a professional baseball commentator and astronaut at the same time. If that doesn't ring true, you're probably not invited.

Wanangkura Stadium Design

ARM Architecture a conçu cette superbe structure appelée « Wanangkura Stadium ». Situé à South Hedland en Australie, ce bâtiment proposant un design très réussi et accueillant de multiples aménagements sportifs tire son nom du mot « tourbillon » en langage Kariyarra. Plus d’images dans la suite.

Wanangkura Stadium Port Hedland Western Australia  Architects: A
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Wanangkura Stadium Design7
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Wanangkura Stadium Port Hedland Western Australia  Architects: A
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Wanangkura Stadium Port Hedland Western Australia  Architects: A
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Wanangkura Stadium Port Hedland Western Australia  Architects: A
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Gatorade Looks Back at Its Impressive History Once Again in New Ad

If Gatorade's latest commercial from TBWA\Chiat\Day seems vaguely familiar, that's because it treads some of the same ground as Element 79's mid-'00s work for the brand, recounting the drink's 1965 creation in a lab at the University of Florida. From there, the TBWA spot mixes stock footage and new clips of Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade and others as it assesses the brand's place in the history of modern sports. This heady concept works best in a pop-culture context. Gatorade is a beloved and ubiquitous game-day fixture, itself iconic, sloshing around in small plastic cups and giant buckets, ever ready to drench the winners in sparkling showers of limey-electrolyte glory. Sure, Gatorade might help gifted athletes—and by extension, you and me—win on the playing field. But more important, the brand is synonymous with triumph and superior achievement overall. That status gives Gatorade a shared meaning that transcends its sporty origins and helps ads like these appeal to anyone hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

Alec Baldwin and Charles Barkley Strike Up March Madness Bromance for Capital One

Capital One pitchman Alec Baldwin gets an assist from Charles Barkley in new ads from DDB Chicago and Tool director Erich Joiner timed to the NCAA's March Madness tournament, of which the financial firm is a prominent sponsor. In one spot, the pair perform goofy schtick during a sports broadcast, with the Round Mound's tent-size underpants held up to ridicule. In another, they attend a basketball game, where Sir Charles keeps snacks warm inside his jacket and reveals, "It's like a little hot-dog steamer in there"—which is frankly something I never needed to know. All this sporty-bro-bonding is kind of strained and silly, but overall the tone is probably in tune with the target audience. Besides, Baldwin's slimy smile and smug delivery never get old. And Barkley's dazed and indifferent acting style is a hoot—it's as if he can't collect his check and get off the set fast enough. They're like a puffy, middle-aged Odd Couple, and their combined charisma—though not much else—keeps the proceedings from becoming the commercial equivalent of an air ball. More spots and a behind-the-scenes clip after the jump.

Nike Snowboarding Project

Nike a décidé de collaborer avec Joe Carlino, Brad Kremer et Justin Hostynek afin de créer 3 courts métrages de snowboard, filmant des exploits à travers différents paysages. Dans cette bande-annonce teaser du Nike Snowboarding Project, voici des images des trois futurs court-métrages à sortir dans les prochains mois.

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Nike Snowboarding Project

The Art of Skiing

Sur la bande son de M83 – Kim & Jessie, Extreme Sports nous propose un mix-up de différentes vidéos de ski pratiqué pas des professionnels. Visuellement très impressionnante, cette vidéo permet de souligner le talent des sportifs de l’extrême. En vidéo dans la suite.



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Joe’s Sports and Outdoor Closing Shops

joe_logo_holidayJoe’s Sports and Outdoors has announced that it will be closing down all 31 shops, ending 57 years of business in what is obviously a cause from the continued economic downturn hitting the world today. A massive, Going-Out-of-Business sales event starts storewide Friday, April 10th.

“This historical event will mark the end of an era,” said Thomas Lonabocker, a principal at Gordon Brothers Group. “Consumers will find great values on all merchandise at every store location. Those who arrive first will be able to choose from the broadest selection.”

Joe’s has lowered prices on its entire inventory, which includes team sports apparel; fan gear; fitness equipment; indoor & outdoor games and equipment; backpacks; sunglasses; watches; fishing, camping and hunting gear; and much more. Consumers can find incredible values on top brands that include Adidas, Coleman, Columbia, Sketchers, The North Face, and more.

(Source) Press

‘Tis the season for those weird bowl names

pa href=”http://www.humanitarianbowl.org/” style=”float: left;”img alt=”Roadys” class=”at-xid-6a00d8341c51c053ef0105368f1769970b ” src=”http://adweek.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341c51c053ef0105368f1769970b-250wi” style=”margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; width: 217px; height: 136px;”/img/a
/ppWith the college-football bowl season getting into full swing, we’re entering the time of year when corporate sponsorship yields some of its oddest names. Some are odd in a merely clunky way—for instance, the a href=”http://www.poinsettiabowl.net/”San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl/a. Some are vaguely slapstick, like the a href=”http://www.chick-fil-abowl.com/”Chick-fil-A Bowl/a. Others sound cheesy, like the a href=”http://www.libertybowl.org/”AutoZone Liberty Bowl/a—or, in the case of the a href=”http://www.papajohnsbowl.com/”Papajohns.com Bowl/a, extra-cheesy. Then there are the puzzling ones, like the a href=”http://www.fiestabowl.org/”Insight Bowl/a, which will pit Kansas against Minnesota at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. (Rather pathetically, it shares a Web site with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl—which, of course, makes one think of a Fiestaware bowl into which a bag of Tostitos chips has been poured.) The Insight Bowl sounds as though it ought to be something like the old GE College Bowl quiz show, with students from different schools competing to see who can make the most apposite remarks on the issues of the day. Still, even the Insight Bowl’s moniker (which comes from a technology vendor that modestly goes by the name of Insight) can’t match the sheer weirdness of the a href=”http://www.humanitarianbowl.org/”Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl/a, which pairs “Humanitarian” with the name of a chain of truck stops. One pities the poor archaeologist who, some millennium in the future, unearths a football with this bowl game’s name stamped on it and has to try to figure out what it could possibly mean./ppem—Posted by Mark Dolliver /em/pdiv class=”feedflare”
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