Key facts
| Brand | Nike |
| Start | 1 July 1988 |
| Agency | Wieden+Kennedy (Portland) |
| Slogan by | Dan Wieden (co-founder of Wieden+Kennedy) |
| First spot | featuring Walt Stack, 80-year-old runner from San Francisco |
| Purpose | A unifying line for ads about different sports |
What is it about and how was it made?
Wieden+Kennedy had made ads for Nike about different sports and athletes. A unifying line was missing. The first spot with “Just Do It” aired on 1 July 1988 and featured Walt Stack, an 80-year-old runner from San Francisco.
On the slogan’s origin: Dan Wieden said he derived the line from the last words of prisoner Gary Gilmore (“Let’s do it”), which he had read in Norman Mailer’s book “The Executioner’s Song”. Nike’s former marketing chief Liz Dolan said that was not the version she heard when she joined Nike. The origin is therefore not firmly established.
Dan Wieden died in 2022 at the age of 77.
Read the numbers with care
Widely quoted figures for Nike’s market share after the campaign could not be confirmed from a reliable source, so we do not cite them.
What brands can take away (our interpretation)
- A short line that expresses an attitude fits every sport, audience and medium.
- The campaign began with a real person (Walt Stack), not a star.
- A unifying line across many motifs turns ads into a brand.
Planning your own spot? The TV spot production guide explains the process, the agency brief template helps with the commission.
Sources
- Boston Globe: Dan Wieden, adman who coined “Just Do It”, dies at 77
- MediaVillage: The rise of Nike’s “Just Do It” tagline
- Business Insider India: story of the slogan
This article only states facts we can substantiate from the sources linked below. The section “What brands can take away” is our own interpretation.