Hey Young World,

In this series, we dissect classic ads that inspire us to this day. You can also follow this series via Instagram and TikTok (or Facebook and LinkedIn, if that’s more your speed), where you can find us under @WeAre1520.

As some of you might know, we are heavily inspired by sub- and countercultures, including skate culture. We also believe that companies looking to win the hearts and minds of Millennials and Gen Z need to be aware of what goes on in sub- and countercultures and, if their products allow it, try to make room for them in their marketing. However, this is easier said than done, as countless embarrassing examples have shown us. A company that got it right (at least partly, but more on that later) was Nike. In 1998, they launched the "What If We Treated All Athletes Like Skateboarders" marketing campaign in support of their first line of skateboarding shoes.

The ad you see in this reel was the first of a series of ads that were part of the advertising campaign (another great entry in the series features tennis legend John McEnroe). The commercial shows what is essentially a parallel universe in which joggers are being treated like skateboarders were so often treated at the time (and, sadly, in many places still are today), thereby ridiculing the people who treat skateboarders that way in the real world. Nike essentially used this ad to pick a side, namely that of skaters. In 1998, this was almost unheard of for mainstream corporate behemoths. Skaters appreciated it.

In the end, the shoes that this campaign was meant to promote did not do well, but that was due to the poor quality of the shoes rather than the campaign. In fact, it is believed that the goodwill built with this campaign is one of the reasons that #skaters ended up embracing Nike SB, the company's second venture into the skateboarding market, a few years later (and the quality was on point this time around too). Nike SB remains a powerhouse in skateboarding to this day. You can watch the full commercial here:

If you want to find out some more interesting facts about this campaign, we recommend this video, in which the founder of the advertising agency that came up with the campaign shares the story behind it:

One Love,

Marius | 1520