"Just Do It" just isn't doing it for Nike anymore. On New Year's Day, the world's largest athletic shoe manufacturer will introduce a new slogan: "I Can."
Even though "Just Do It" isn't being abandoned entirely, the change is seen as a big gamble for a company whose advertising consistently ranks among the most popular and effective in the nation.But Nike's sales momentum has waned. Fashion trends have moved away from athletic shoes to a more traditional casual look.
And professional sports - to which Nike is inextricably linked - has been shaken this year by a series of criminal assaults, gambling scandals and cases of substance abuse.
The problems have "created an atmosphere that is sort of negative," Nike Chairman Phil Knight told investors during a Dec. 18 conference call.
The negativism has included persistent criticism of the company's use of cheap, Third World labor to make Nike products.
"At a time when cynicism in sports is at an all-time high, `I Can' is an effort to return to a focus on the positive," said Bob Wood, Nike vice president of USA Marketing. "It reflects the deep emotional connection that people have with sports in feeling good about participating and setting personal goals."
Knight said the company has no plans to pull away from sports, but the industry's problems have done nothing to improve the market for athletic shoes, particularly those marketed around individual athletes.
Like "Just Do It," the new "I Can" tagline was created by Nike's Portland advertising agency, Wieden & Kennedy. The old image was stifling the agency's famed creativity, said president and creative director Dan Wieden.
"The thought was just too limited," Wieden said. "Then someone suggested chopping it in half, and suddenly the possibilities became limitless."
The new slogan will debut on Jan. 1 in a spot titled "Anthem," which touts sports as an opportunity for anyone to experience the thrill of athletics.
The "I Can" campaign was prepared with lightning speed. Nike went to Wieden and its other ad agency, San Francisco-based Goodby Silverstein, in October asking for new ideas, Nike spokesman Lee Weinstein said.
That led to rumors that Nike planned to dump its longtime agency in favor of Goodby. But Wieden & Kennedy will keep the majority of the Nike account, while Goodby will create new ads for some Nike product categories, including outdoor, women's and some apparel lines.
According to company lore, "Just Do It" was born in 1988 when an ad executive, speaking to Nike employees, told them, "You Nike guys, you just do it."
The slogan will not be abandoned, Nike spokeswoman Kathryn Reith said Tuesday.
"`Just Do It' is not dead. It's alive and well," she said. "We'll continue to use it, probably a little more sparingly than we have in the past."
Bob Goldman, a sociology professor at Lewis & Clark College and co-author of two books about advertising, calls "Just Do It" perhaps the single best-known ad tag-line in existence today.