Inspiration is drawn from anywhere, and what’s a living testimony to this idea is the tagline of one of the most recognized sporting brand Nike – Just Do It.
About a few decades ago, when Wieden+Kennedy got the job of branding Nike, Dan Wieden came up with this wild idea. Okay, here we would want you to imagine a man with so much pressure of delivering an idea to an upcoming sporting brand. He hadn’t slept the whole night; he had five different teams working on five different unrelated ideas, and what more these times did not ask for taglines!
Dan Wieden was going through one such night, and was scribbling ideas on it! And we’re sure it has happened with you too. When it’s the twelfth hour, and you have only no time left, you suddenly feel immensely capable of accomplishing tasks. And just then, he picked up the line ‘Just Do It.’
Well, that’s not what makes the story great. Let’s take you back a decade more in history. This time, you’re seeing this guy from Portland, who is a spree killer. He’s Gary Gilmore. He had a July murdered two people, and granted a death penalty for the same. He was handed over to the firing squad to finish him off. And just as we have seen in many dramas, he was asked his last words.
Have you guessed it yet? ‘Let’s do it’ is what he said. And THAT is what had stayed with Dan! And to add a dash of emphasis, he changed it to “Just Do It.’
And just as all great ideas get ridiculed in the beginning, he was too.
And the rest is history.
