- Nike's "Just Do It", was recently voted the best sports Advertisement of all time.
I’ve always been a little careful proclaiming anything "the best." I never declared anyone my best friend as a kid because I was afraid my other friends might assume I thought less of them.
So it was a little difficult for me to be involve in choosing just one "best" advertisement of all time. There have been lots of great sports advertisement with great results, but the Nike's Just Do It campaign stood out over last four decades and still fresh today. So after several consideration at the Sport Marketing Round Table held in Lagos Nigeria, on Friday April 6, 2018, Nike' "Just Do It" emerged the Best.
But you may ask...
Why "Nike Just Do It" campaigns was declared the best Sports ads of all time?
Because of the impact it had and still having on the growth of the brand, and because Nike manage to hit on a universal truth that allows us to remember this campaigns years after they first began. In fact, some of us might not have even been alive when the campaign was first aired, yet it still make so much impact on us today.
Did you know that, once upon a time, Nike's product catered almost exclusively to marathon runners? Then, a fitness craze emerged -- and the folks in Nike's marketing department knew they needed to take advantage of it to surpass their main competitor, Reebok. (At the time,
Reebok was selling more shoes than Nike ). And so, in the late 1980s, Nike created the "Just Do It." campaign.
It was a hit!
In 1988, Nike sales were at $800 million ; by 1998, sales exceeded $9.2 billion . "Just Do It." was short and sweet, yet encapsulated everything people felt when they were exercising -- and people still feel that feeling today:
- Don’t want to run five miles? Just Do It!
- Don’t want walk up four flights of stairs? Just Do It!
It's a slogan we can all relate to... the drive to push ourselves beyond our limits. Nike encapsulated it in just three short words JUST- DO - IT
Just Do It, The Creative Imput
When you're trying to decide the best way to present your brand, ask yourself:
- What problem are you solving for your customers?
- What solution does your product or service provide?
By Nike hitting on that core issue in all of their messaging, they connected with consumers on an emotional level that is hard to ignore or forget.
Dan Wieden, the founder of Wieden+Kennedy, the advertising agency that created the campaign, credits the inspiration for "Just Do It" slogan to Gary Gilmore’s last words: "Let's do it," and it immediately clicked, everyone at the creative department of the Agency agreed to the theme "Just Do It.
How to Create A "World Beater" Advertisement Campaign like Just Do It
1. Describe your ad's audience using demographics and psychographics.
2. Determine where this audience consumes content.
3. Establish how your brand/product will be positioned.
4. Set company goals for this advertisement.
5. Identify the advertisement's channel and format.
6. Write the ad's primary text copy.
7. Incorporate persuasive messaging into your ad copy.
8. Add a natural call to action and/or callback to your logo.
9. Adapt the design for your brand, ad channel, and ad format.
The Result of Nike's "Just Do It" Campaign
The "Just Do It" campaign allowed Nike to further increase its share of the North American domestic sport-shoe business from 18% to 43%, (from $877 million to $9.2 billion in worldwide sales) from 1988 to 1998.[3] In many Nike-related situations, "Just Do It" appears alongside the Nike logo, known as the Swoosh.
