Nike launched “Just Do it” in 1988 as an invitation to sport lovers to try again and again keep going when it is difficult. The Claim has become an icon of the marketing industry and also in part of popular culture. The brand updates it now, decades later, to insufflate purpose and connect it with a generation marked by pressure and anxiety.
He does it with the campaign “Why do it?” (Why do it?), Designed by the creative agency Wieden+Kennedy Portland. In it, as the company expresses in a statement, it rethinks greatness as a choice, not as a result, with the intention of connecting its emblematic motto “Just Do It” with a new generation of consumers who seek meaning in their actions and commitments.
For this, an outstanding international athletes resort through which redefines ambition, competition and courage for today’s society. The announcement has the presence of, among others, the Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz; The Brazilian footballer Vini Jr.; Basketball players Caitlin Clark and LeBron James; or rugby player Saquon Barkley.
All of them are, according to the brand, united by their decision to move forward, especially when it is difficult to do so.
The spot highlights the uncertainty of the sport and moves the idea that victory is not guaranteed. The phrase is in charge of rapper Tyler, the creator, and raises the audience the reflection of why play sports if the effort can lead to failure and disappointment. “Why do it?“, ask. “Why would you complicate it? Why risk it? … You could give everything and yet lose. But my question is … what if you don’t?“
“With ‘Why do it?’, We are lighting that spark for a new generation, encouraging them to step forward with courage, to trust their own potential and discover the greatness that unfolds at the time they decide to start”, Said Nicole Graham, Executive Vice President and Marketing Director of Nike, in a statement.
From Nike they say that although the spirit of “Just Do It” has not changed, the world that surrounds it has done so. In this sense, its reintroduction and resignification has nothing to do with pursuing glory or nostalgia, but with choosing to start and then decide to move forward, channeling a version of “Just Do” that fits the pressures and the potential of the current generation.
With this campaign, Nike moves away from the speeches and codes that have dominated advertising communication in the sports sector in recent years and that have put the competition and the effort exacerbated as the center of the narrative. With “Why do it?” Follow other brands, such as Puma or Asics, who have opted for messages more linked to enjoyment, well -being and calm.
Other resignifications of “Just Do It”
The brand has taken the opportunity to remember previous occasions in which its “Just Do It” has renewed and resignified. One of them was in 1995, when he launched the “If You Let Me Play” campaign, a campaign with which he communicated how access to sport can change the lives of girls and adolescents.
Another was 2018, when “Dream Crazy” launched, starring Rugby Kaepernick player. With her, sport fans invited to dream the convections, an idea that he expressed in the slogan “believes in something. Even if that means sacrificing everything.”
