Nike Just Do It.

You may have recently heard that the inspiration for Nike's iconic Just Do It. campaign came from the last words of an notorious Americian murderer. Utah killer Gary Gilmore, who was sentenced to death for robbery and murder, reportedly said "Let's Do this" just before facing the firing squad. The co-founder of the advertising agency Wieden & Kennedy, Dan Wieden, said that he took this quote and changed it into the infamous tagline. Nearly 30 years on it has become as synonymous with Nike as the swoosh symbol, and is one of the most successful taglines of the 20th century .So how has the "original hashtag" been able to stand the test of time?

Well to start with the tagline is universal. Unlike Dove's "real beauty" campaign which is aimed at women aged 30 and above, this campaign transcends all social divisions; gender, race, class and age.In 1988 when the phrase made its TV debut, Nike were re-thinking their market strategy. In order to differentiate itself from its main rival Reebok, who focused on the 80's aerobics craze, Nike hoped to target a much bigger audience; everyone! Nike wanted its brand to be the brand of choice of every American regardless of age, gender or physical fitness. This is typically concerned a faux par in marketing circles, as it is often considered impossible to satisfy the needs of everyone. But equipped with a new tagline, Nike were able to do exactly that. The tagline can interpreted beyond its literal meaning thus giving each individual the scope to interpret it on a personal level. This unique trait aids people in establishing a personal and lasting connection with the brand,in other words, it encourages brand loyalty and ultimately brand equity. Brand loyalty was something that Nike craved in the mid 80's when, (though its hard to believe now), it was number two in the sports shoe market. However, The Just Do It campaign propelled Nike to the top of the trainer foodchain, and increased their market share of the American trainer business from 18 per cent to 43 per cent between 1988 and 1998.

Not only did the tagline help the old bank balance and create brand loyalty, it also contributed to Nikes unprecedented brand awareness.
Brand awareness deals with whether a brand comes into mind when consumers think about a particular product category, and the ease with which that name is evoked. Just Do It is as simple as it is memorable which is essential for brand recognition and brand recall. At the most basic level, after seeing the words paired with the word Nike just once, you begin to recognise the slogan (brand recognition).  Over time the slogan itself is enough for us to recall the brand by name (brand recall). The campaign is so easily identifiable that the sports brand no longer needs to display the word Nike in these ads- the words alone are enough. You have to admit that it is quite impressive that the whole world knows who the brand is and what it stands for from just three words and a full stop. I mean, Addias couldn't do that with their #Impossibleisnothing or their new on #Therewillbehaters campaign. Even the fact that Adidas have recently changed slogans illustrates they inability to cultivate a slogan with the same clout as their closet rival.

Today, Nike is the worlds biggest sportswear company with $25 billion in revenue last year and has reported a 7% jump in revenue for the latest quarter. Nike as a brand are going from strength to strength and they owe a lot of their success to three magic words.

On our commute to the city we are bombarded with adverts promoting miracle anti-wrinkle creams or a cure to male pattern baldness. Usually we never give these ads a second glance, probably because we know better than to believe that such a magic elixir exists (well, not an affordable one anyway!). So how do marketers draw the astute commuter's gaze from their smart phone or free newspaper? A spot of humour and elaboration can do the trick!

Stubhub Advert: "They can't go, so you can"

Stub Hub is a very simple idea; when someone can't make a concert, you can buy their tickets via their website usually at a discounted rate. While the site is highly profitable, trying to communicate such a basic message in an interesting way can be tricky. Even if you have the best website in the world, unless people are aware of it, it's useless. So how did StubHub overcome the simplicity of their marketing message? 
By throwing a little elaboration and humour into the mix. 

Firstly, the advert is not a visual display of Stub Hub's desire for someone to be hospitalised so that they would be forced to sell their tickets on StubHub's website (well, I hope not anyway!). The point of the advert is to get your attention while making the marketing message clear and concrete.The ad is clearly designed with tongue  firmly in cheek and is a bit far fetched, but has successfully made a straightforward, simple message funny and engaging! Putting out an advert featuring the typical reasons for selling your concert tickets like needing extra cash or having a cold, is either to difficult to communicate in print or too boring. So in this case a slight, humorous elaboration on the truth has worked wonders.

Scimx #Bossit advert
The protein shake market is saturated and with a thousand and one different market offerings, it's hard to know which one is the best. In such an environment brands need to look to creative advertising to stand out when their USP or positioning are ineffective. The image above is part of Scimx 's #bossit campaign to promote their new range of health supplements.

 Demonstrating the functional attributes of its product is nothing new for a sports nutrition company. We have all seen the image of a ripped topless man holding a protein shake in one arm while flexing the other. While all these adverts seem the same, promoting the physical benefits of usage is the best form of advertising for products of this nature. But that does not mean all the adverts have to be predictable or boring.

By Scimx displaying a picture of a destroyed punching bag demonstrates the physical benefits of their product but in a novel way. No one is expecting that after drinking one protein shake they will be able to destroy a punching bag, but the image is certainly a head turner. Men are becoming increasingly immune to the use of the "ideals" of male beauty in adverts. This is because everyone seems to be offering the same thing, a big muscular body. When this happens the "ideal" is no longer associated with one specific product thus diminishing its effect on buying behaviour. 

In order for advertising to utilise the power of these ideals they need to make them realistically unattainable, yet something to strive for. Having a muscular body is something we can all obtain with the right exercise and diet, but punching your way through a punching bag is something reserved for the Gods. The bait of self improvement can be a powerful tool in marketing when it is used correctly, and this is an excellent example of that.We know that are not likely to ever attain such God- like strength. However, by pairing the aspiration with their product in our heads, Scimx are using "fantasy" to crave out a distinctive position for themselves in the marketplace. Well it certainly got me daydreaming! 

Mcdonalds Sexist Sausage and Bacon Sandwich

Whenever you advertise sex-typed products you need to consider how it will be viewed by both sexes. By suggesting a product should only be used by one gender you are naturally inviting backlash from the excluded sex. Now, this is obviously not the problem when it comes to products which are biologically designed for one gender e.g tampons. However, when it comes to food it's very hard to determine which sex should be eating what. In today's enlightened society, a persons biological gender does not wholly determine whether they will exhibit sex-typed traits. In other words, people do not always conform to the behaviour, or possess the characteristics typically associate with their sex.

Mcdonalds seem to believe that eating a sausage and bacon sandwich is something reserved only for the male population, and is a symbol of their "maniliness". So if we go along with this false logic and say that women don't like eating bacon or sausage sandwiches (sorry ladies), why would Mcdonalds present the sandwich so "effeminately"? In the photo the sandwich is very neatly presented with each layer of filling clearly visible . This is far from the "manly" image you would expect to see of a burger that Mcdonalds claim is a right of passage for any human possessing a Y chromosome! I think there must have been a bit of miscommunication between the concept team and the visual department (or maybe visual team were playing a joke on their backward thinking co-workers!). But not only have Mcydees ignored the fact that females also enjoy a nice fry up on the weekend and have made an odd image choice, the print advert is rather offensive too!

Left is a picture of the Mcdonalds advert whereby they poke fun at the male commuter for engaging in "female" pass times. Here we have "Looked at the horoscopes this morning? Reclaim your manliness". I have also seen one which castrates men for reading the gossip columns. Now as a man I am slightly offended by these remarks. I personally don't read the horscopes, but on the train I will often glance over the guilty pleasures column. As the title of the section illustrates, it is fun to read about what crazy antics the celebs are getting up too, and reading it I for one feel no less manly.What Mcdonalds seem to be forgetting is that masculinity and femininity are not biological characteristics. 

Today, what it means to be a man or a woman is in a constant state of flux, for example, metrosexual males.  I think Mcdonalds made a mistake with this advert and I even think that the team behind it weren't able to agree on the concept based on the photo's mix message. Going forward maybe the golden arches should just say "Hey, here's a new burger", and avoid trying to give a burger a gender!