Nike ’ s ‘ Just do it ’ slogan is undoubtedly a killer line – and now it ’ s been revealed that the inspiration for it came from an actual killer . The phrase , first used in a Nike advert in 1988 , was pitched to the firm by advertising executive Dan Wieden , who admitted that it was borrowed from something a Utah murderer uttered as he faced a firing squad . The condemned man in question was Gary Gilmore , who was sentenced to death in 1977 for robbing and murdering two men in Utah the previous year . Scroll down for video . Nike ’ s ‘ Just do it ’ slogan is undoubtedly a killer line – and now it ’ s been revealed that the inspiration for it came from an actual killer . The tagline 'Just do it ' , which has become synonymous with the Nike brand , first appeared in 1988 at the end of an advert featuring 80-year-old runner Walt Stack ( pictured ) Gary Gilmore ( pictured ) uttered the words 'let 's do it ' before he was executing by firing squad for two Utah murders in 1977 . The phrase inspired one of the most successful advertising slogans of all time . He chose to be executed by firing squad and it was reported that he said ‘ let ’ s do it ’ in the moments before he died . Mr Wieden , speaking at an advertising conference in Cape Town in February , said that he recalled this line in 1988 just before he had a crunch marketing campaign meeting with Nike bosses , and decided to suggest a slightly altered version as a slogan . This week Mr Wieden , co-founder of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy , repeated the story to Dezeen magazine . He described how he was worried that an upcoming series of five TV adverts lacked cohesion , because they all had a different feel to them . He felt they needed a tagline to tie them all together . His company had been parachuted in by Nike to help them counter-attack rivals Reebok , who had just announced bigger profits . Dan Wieden ( pictured ) revealed that the slogan 'Just do it ' was borrowed from the last words of Utah murderer Gary Gilmore . Mr Wieden said : ‘ We… came up with five different 30 second spots . The night before [ a meeting with Nike ] I got concerned because… there was n't an overlying sensibility to them all . Some were funny , some were solemn . So I thought… we need a tagline to pull this stuff together . ‘ I wrote about four or five ideas . I narrowed it down to the last one , which was `` Just do it '' . The reason I did that one was funny because I was recalling a man in Portland . ‘ He murdered a man and a woman , and was put before a firing squad . And they asked him if he had any final thoughts and he said : `` Let 's do it . '' And for some reason I went : `` Now damn . How do you ask for an ultimate challenge that you are probably going to lose , but you call it in ? '' So I thought , well , I did n't like `` Let ’ s do it '' so I just changed it to `` Just do it '' . ’ At first , he recalled , Nike hated the idea , but he won them round and the slogan appeared at the end of an advert featuring 80-year-old runner Walt Stack . It is now one of the most famous slogans in the world , described by Campaign magazine as ‘ arguably the best tagline of the 20th century ’ .
The 'Just do it ' slogan first appeared at the end of a TV advert in the 20th century . It has been described as one of the best taglines of 1988 . Ad executive Dan Wieden admitted it 's based on last words of a murderer . He borrowed the phrase from condemned Utah killer Gary Gilmore . Gilmore reportedly said 'let 's do it ' as he face a firing squad in 1977 .