Part of EPR's Sports PR pillar · Six Sports Marketing Disasters · Airwallex McLaren F1 Sponsorship Playbook
Edited on Jun 24, 2026.
Just Do It from Nike (1988). Impossible Is Nothing from Adidas (2004). I Will What I Want from Under Armour (2014). Three campaigns built the modern sportswear category. Each operates with different narrative architecture, different brand positioning, and different competitive logic. Each has been sustained through years of follow-on campaigns, athlete partnerships, and broader brand discipline. The three companies together have written the modern playbook for athletic brand communications, and the broader consumer brand category continues to learn from how they operate.
This is the working profile of where the three brands sit at the end of 2015, what their current campaign work actually delivers, and what the broader category should be taking from the cases.
Nike
Nike is one of the largest companies in the world and one of the most recognized brands anywhere. The "Find Your Fast" campaign launched earlier this year uses big sports celebrity names to push consumers to beat their personal best.
From Nike's own description: "Neal Brennan, co-creator of the Chappelle Show, collaborated with Nike on the direction of the campaign's anthem piece, 'Find Your Fast.' Quick highlights include a fast cameo from one of the world's fastest men, Michael Johnson; the world's fastest woman, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce; the world's fastest commercial starring Kobe Bryant and world famous magician David Blaine; the fastest of the Looney Tunes characters — Road Runner and a nod to one of Nike's speediest running shoes, the Nike Air Zoom Elite 8."
The Find Your Fast campaign extends the broader Nike communications discipline that has been built across nearly three decades since the original Just Do It launch in 1988. The combination of athlete-driven storytelling, cinematic production values, and consistent brand voice has made Nike one of the most-studied brand communications operations in modern business.
Nike continues to dominate the global athletic apparel and footwear market by revenue. The brand's continued investment in athlete partnerships across basketball (Jordan Brand), running, soccer, and broader sports categories supports a marketing operation that no competitor has fully matched.
Adidas
Adidas is a major sports company with international name recognition. The "Sport 15" campaign launched earlier this year uses the most aggressive language since 2011's "All in or Nothing" campaign.
The Sport 15 campaign started with a 60-second commercial called "Take It" featuring Lionel Messi, Derrick Rose, and DeMarco Murray. The message: every moment counts, and live for future successes.
Simon Atkins, Adidas's VP of brand activation, told Ad Week: "As a brand that has a legacy with sports more than anybody historically, and across all sports, it's something that we see. It's something we wanted to start communicating to our audience." The best athletes have the "ability to use all of their experiences — good, bad or indifferent — to empower them for the future."
Adidas has been working on the PR side with MDC Partners-owned 72andSunny, Hill & Knowlton, and boutique agency Warschawski Public Relations. The agency relationships have produced sustained creative output across multiple campaign cycles.
The broader Adidas competitive position has been improving across recent quarters. The Boost technology platform launched in 2013 has been one of the more consequential product innovations in modern running footwear. The recent Yeezy partnership with Kanye West, which produced Yeezy Season 1 earlier this year, has given Adidas substantial cultural relevance in the streetwear and sneaker culture categories.
Under Armour
Under Armour edged out Adidas in 2014 as the number two brand in the U.S. athletic market behind Nike. The brand's continued growth has been one of the more consequential consumer brand stories of recent years. Under Armour launched "Rule Yourself" earlier this year with Tom Brady, Misty Copeland, Stephen Curry, and Jordan Spieth.
"The concept of the 'Rule Yourself' campaign is simple — you are the sum of all of your training. It's the only way to get better, and it's the common thread that unites each of our all-star athletes around the globe," said Adam Peake, EVP of Global Marketing.
"Under Armour provides the gear, equipment and digital tools the athlete needs to push through a tough workout. But we also want to give them that extra inspiration to improve every day, to keep building their inner army and to stay focused on success even when the going gets tough."
Edelman and Catalyst are among the agencies that have worked with Under Armour. The agency relationships have supported the brand's continued growth.
Under Armour's growth across recent years has been driven by basketball positioning around Stephen Curry, broader athletic apparel expansion, and the company's substantial investment in digital fitness platforms including the recent MyFitnessPal acquisition.
What the Three Campaigns Share
Three structural elements stand out across the three campaigns and the broader brand communications operations.
Athlete-driven storytelling. All three campaigns are built around named athletes rather than generic brand messaging. The athlete relationships are the underlying brand asset.
Aspirational rather than transactional messaging. The campaigns sell achievement, self-improvement, and personal excellence rather than specific product features. The aspirational framing produces sustained engagement that product-feature marketing cannot match.
Sustained narrative across multiple campaign cycles. Just Do It has been running for 27 years. Impossible Is Nothing has been running for 11 years. I Will What I Want is in its second year. Each campaign extends the broader brand narrative rather than operating as standalone marketing.
What Separates Strong Athletic Brand Communications from Weak
Three operating practices distinguish the strongest athletic brand communications work.
Sustained athlete relationships. The brands that maintain deep, multi-year athlete partnerships produce stronger communications outcomes than brands that operate transactional athlete sponsorships.
Consistent brand voice. Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour each operate with distinctive brand voices that have been sustained across multiple campaign cycles. The voice consistency is part of the broader brand authority.
Cinematic production values. The three brands all invest substantially in production quality. The investment is the structural enabler of the broader campaign effectiveness.
The Bottom Line
Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour have written the modern playbook for athletic brand communications. The Find Your Fast, Sport 15, and Rule Yourself campaigns each extend that playbook in distinct ways. The broader category continues to learn from how the three brands operate. The athletic and sportswear communications discipline that the three brands have built is one of the most-studied operating models in modern consumer brand work.
