Nike’s Phil Knight On How He Became A Believer in Advertising
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I was prepared for Phil Knight to be one cantankerous dude, hiding behind those fierce sunglasses you see in pictures of him.
But when he arrived for our video interview (sans sunglasses), the chairman emeritus of Nike was unguarded and unassuming, still bearing a resemblance to the runner he was more than a few years ago at the University of Oregon. The press clippings said he ran a 4:10 mile back then, but when I mentioned the time he said “close enough.” I asked him what the actual time was and he said 4:13. “I like 4:10 better,” I said. “Me, too,” he said.
So that’s how our conversation got started. Dan Wieden, who introduced Phil at the Advertising Hall of Fame induction last week, said he had to talk Phil into the “Just do it” slogan, but Phil told me his reputation for not liking advertising was misunderstood.
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