Nike owes its tagline to a death row inmate

Just did it. Credit: as indicated

We all know that in theory, executions are supposed to spring from a big idea, which is often encapsulated in a catchy tagline.

Dan Wieden of W+K fame tells the hazy story here of how perhaps the most famous tagline in the world was an inspired piece of reverse engineering.

In my own words, here’s the story of Gary Gilmore, murder convict and unwitting inspiration for thousands of marketing campaigns the world over since.

On the eve of a major presentation many years ago, Dan was worried because he had a disparate bunch of executions that were great in themselves but lacked a unifying theme.

As he sat fretting, he recalled Gilmore’s famous last words as he faced a firing squad – “Let’s do it!”

And thus with some improvisation, Just do it was born as a rousing bugle call to athletes of all levels.