Nike's Ad Campaign: Just Do It

Nike started advertising it's brand under the "Just Do It." slogan. The slogan is used to appeal to pathos. They started using the slogan to appeal to the wider audience of the average American to work out. It appeals to their pathos by encouraging them to not procrastinate and "Just Do It".

They aired there first "Just Do It." commercial in 1988 - Click Here to Watch. This was the start to their ad campaign that continues successfully to this day.

Nike's successful ad campaign is due because of how they appeal to pathos. The author, or in this case, the brand, incorporates the ad campaign deep into the company's values and mission. This causes Nike to seem trustworthy which creates strong rapport with its customers. That taps into how the customer's feelings and so by wearing clothing by Nike, causes them to feel encouraged and ready to face the intensity of a hard work out.

Their 25th anniversary "Just Do It." ad ran in 2013 - Click Here to Watch. That ad shows how successful their campaign has been. Not many companies can keep their same ad campaign going for that long. It takes more than just a one time appeal to pathos, logos, or ethos. It has to be ingrained into the brand so deeply that customers can continue to feel the appeal throughout and over decades.

Not only does the "Just Do It" campaign transcendence time, it goes across gender and sport as shown in the ads below.

 





By creating an emotional appeal so large that it appeals to so wide an audience and by causing it to be authentic by integrating it deeply into the company, the ad campaign is bound to be successful. This is a use pathos that other companies should desire to imitate in their own ad campaigns.