What Happened To the Nike of Just Do It Era?

In a comment to a post, Colleen, a fully recovered advertising copy writer, asks:

So my question is, what happened to Nike *after* its heyday? Did they stop listening? Stop deep listening?

I so well remember clients begging for "Nike work."

A very good question indeed. I don't know what happened exactly. But I can speculate. Before I jump into speculation, it might be intriguing and instructive to glimpse back to that "heydey" period for a couple of posts. BTW, Nike had actually reached a bit of a plateau prior to the Just Do It days. I highly recommend A New Brand World, by Scott Bedbury. Even if all you do is sneak to a bookstore and go read Chapter 2, Cracking Your Brand's Genetic Code - it's worth it. Here's the first glimpse back:

If one had to put the matter succinctly, it was that "Just Do It" was not about sneakers. It was about values. It was not about products; it was about a brand ethos.

Rather than giving Nike all the credit for the emotional rewards that sports and fitness can provide - which was the message of "Hayward Field" [a deeply flawed campaign that flopped] - the new advertising let the athletes speak for themselves. Just as compelling, some of those athletes were professionals while others were aging weekend warriors. One spot was even taken from the view of a dog on a leash, out for a very long walk on a hot day...

The deep secret to the longevity of "Just Do It" lay in the fact that its message possessed as much revelance for twenty-year-old triathletes as for fifty-year-old mall walkers...

"JDI" was not uniquely male or female, not just sports- or fitness-oriented, neither purist nor recreational. It embraced all categories. Most important to me, it codified an ethos that had existed within the Nike brand, that was part of its genetic structure long before Dan Wieden [their ad agency guy] identified it. We just couldn't see it until our backs were up against the wall and had to dig deeply into what made the brand tick...

Cracking your brand's genetic code is not strictly about product, about the past, or even about things - it is about tapping in to an essence and an ethos that defines who you are to folks who matter: your core customers, your potential customers, and your employees. - A New Brand World, by Scott Bedbury

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