Grant McCracken on Nike
"Frame for frame, 'Tag' is probably the most exciting ad ever made. It had the drama of the chase scene in The French Connection. It won the admiration of the industry and a Cannes Lion Grand Prix." An excerpt from anthropologist-economist Grant McCracken's new book, Chief Culture Officer, is about ad exec Dan Wieden, who coined the slogan "Just Do It" for Nike in the late '80s, and directed the "Tag" commercial in 2001. It has something of the last episode of Mad Men to it, the scene when Don Draper is asking Peggy to join him at the new firm and says, "There are people who buy things-like you and me. And then something happened. Something terrible. And the way that they saw themselves is gone. And nobody understands that. But you do. And that's very valuable." Or as McCracken puts it: "Max Weber, the German sociologist, believed that as the Western world grew more rational, routinized and commercial, our experience of this world became disenchanted. The personal, the traditional, the sentimental, the human scale, all of these were diminished. 'Tag' and its companion trends seemed to offer a restoration. Apparently, even strangers can make the city more playful and less predictable."
At first glance of this post title, I thought it was: Giant Kraken on Nike.
Ditto!
"who coined the slogan 'Just Do It' for Nike in 1998"
Wasn't the "just do it" slogan from the late 80s?
Yes. Last paragraph, first page.
So, 1988. Probably a typo.
Whoops. Yes. Nice catch. McCracken has '98 in his piece. Thanks for heads-up.
TV Tag was always way better. It required cognitive skills AND agility.
I remember we amended the rules to allow Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze to be abbreviated to TMNT2. (We allowed movies)
Dude was a poor predator. Pick the straggler and wear them down. His attempt at the group hiding behind the trash can, post, etc. was embarrassing.
No kidding. Wasn't there some old lady or guy on crutches somewhere in the vicinity?
Thank goodness multinational consumer product companies are offering us a multitude of ways to re-enchant our grinding, routinized lives.
I'm a wet blanket. They live, we sleep. Nothing to see here.
"They Live" indeed. Perhaps if bubble gum ads had been more effective Rowdy Roddy Piper wouldn't have had to kick so much ass.
When I watch the paltry compensation I receive for my labors pass through me and onto various consumer debt-holding concerns the feeling I get is almost sexual. I am a vessel that holds up a small part of the system, one day I will be depleted and die. Perhaps by then there will be a way for my corpus to provide some consumer benefit to somebody; an extraction of my economic utility.
Just Do It!
Dammit! I haven't had a chance to watch yet, and managed to avoid any Mad Men spoilers until just now.
Oh. I'm sorry, Nuch!
Quick, drink this mind-eraser!
So, the whole thing's between quotes?
Hey, that's downtown Toronto, y'all!