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In 1988, Dan Wieden, founder of the now-worldwide advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, uttered the three words that would define one of the biggest brands in the world: Just Do It.
Wieden was inspired by the final words of notorious death row inmate Gary Gilmore who, just prior to his execution, said: “You know, let’s do it.”
Wieden later said about those words: “I remember when I read that I was like, that’s amazing. I mean how, in the face of that much uncertainty, do you push through that?”
Wieden+Kennedy had been founded with just one client: Nike, the shoe company helmed by a ruthless businessman named Phil Knight and his co-founder, legendary University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman.
The Just Do It campaign put Nike at the cutting edge of creativity and brand development. It also cemented Wieden+Kennedy’s reputation for creative edginess.
“When you think about the fact that Portland prides itself as a city of creativity and innovators, most of that can be traced one way or another back to Nike,” says Steve Wynne, a former president of Adidas in the 1990s and then CEO of Fila, two of Nike’s biggest competitors. “It spurred the creativity that’s driven a lot of the commercial activity around here.”
Over the next 35 years, Nike would grow into a $51 billion behemoth, pumping a flood of money into Portland’s economy and an undeniable air of cool to a city best known for its nerds. And Just Do It proved to be such a durable line that Nike brought it back 30 years later to promote a new round of partnerships with stars like Serena Williams, LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick.
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