Why Nike doesn't do funny shit!
Have you ever noticed that Nike never does a funny ad?
In this episode, Bobby Pawar, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of one of the world’s largest creative agencies, Havas Group India, explains why Nike never does a funny piece of advertising.
He narrates this little story of how a really funny script was presented to the CEO of Nike and he fell over his chair laughing. And yet he said- “Isn't it a pity this ad is never going to be made because Nike doesn't do funny shit?”
Building a brand is just like a jigsaw. And a clearly defined brand philosophy is one such crucial piece. A brand’s core values and brand messaging must be in sync to shape consumer perception.
Bobby decodes Nike’s brand philosophy. Know why Nike is Nike.
Think about what you'd like your brand to be!
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Learn about:-
02:11- The keys to brand consistency
03:02- Consistency is not about format
Read the text version of the episode below:-
[00:00:36] Have you ever noticed Nike never does a funny ad. In the next few minutes Bobby explains, why Nike doesn't do funny shit. And he narrates this little story of how a really funny script was presented to the CEO of Nike and he fell over his chair laughing. And yet he said- isn't it a pity this ad is never going to be made because Nike doesn't [00:01:00] do funny shit. Listen on and you would know why Nike is Nike. Nike is inspirational, it doesn't do funny shit. Think about, what you'd like your brand to be.
[00:01:11] Bobby Pawar: This is Chuck McBride, famous guy who did lot of famous work on Nike, then went on to do the 'Impossible is Nothing' campaign for Adidas, amazing creative director, creative himself. So you send me the story, but he is working in Weiden and Kennedy Portland, Chuck and I judged an award show together and we were drinking till the wee hours of the morning. And somewhere between the many, many drinks, he told me it's like, he had like a great campaign idea, which is really funny for Nike. And he presented Dan Wieden, Dan laughed when he heard the scripts and all that and Chuck thought he had sealed the deal. It's like you've got Dan's seal of approval in his laughter [00:02:00] and then there was silence and then Dan says, hey Chuck, that's really good work, pity it's never gonna run in Nike and something to that effect. And Chuck is gobsmacked.
[00:02:11] He said, why? Nike doesn't do funny shit, we do inspirational stuff. And rarely do the two go in hand in hand. And that's the thing about consistency, right? But a lot of times people sort of mistake consistency in the sense of- “Oh the logo should always be right and the format should always be the same”. That's the photocopy version of consistency, right? That, especially in today, pretty much mostly engaged kind of world that we live in. If you do that, you are gonna be boring, right? Consistency comes from your visual grammar and your tone
[00:02:59] Vani: Your [00:03:00] visual grammar and the tone, you said consistency.
[00:03:02] Bobby Pawar: And it comes from the values that you stand for. So you need to be guided by that. It's lazy people who resort to the straightjacket framework of format and all of that. It rarely ever works for a long time. Nike has done many different formats over the years, they've used many different lines before “Just Do It”.
[00:03:25] Vani: But you're right, I've never seen a funny piece of advertising from Nike. Nike doesn't make you laugh.
[00:03:34]Bobby Pawar: That's an inspirational brand, right? The whole thing is to inspire people to believe that if you have a body, you can be an athlete, right? Telling jokes just kind of gets in the way of that.