David Franklin Kennedy (May 31, 1939 – October 10, 2021)
was an American
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
executive who co-founded
Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy (W+K; earlier styled ''Wieden & Kennedy'') is an American independent global advertising agency best known for its work for Nike. Founded by Dan Wieden and David Kennedy, and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, it is one of the l ...
(W+K). Some of his most popular campaigns included the "
Just Do It
''Just Do It '' or JDI for short is a trademark of shoe company Nike, and it is one of the core components of Nike's brand. The slogan was coined in 1988 at an advertising agency meeting. The founder of the Wieden+Kennedy agency, Dan Wieden, cr ...
", "
Bo Knows
"Bo Knows" was an advertising campaign for Nike cross-training shoes that ran in 1989 and 1990 and featured professional baseball and American football player Bo Jackson. It was also used as an advertising campaign for EA Sports’ Madden 22.
Jac ...
", and the "Mars and Mike" campaigns for
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered ne ...
He and his creative partner
Dan Wieden
Dan Gordon Wieden (; March 6, 1945 – September 30, 2022) was an American advertising executive who co-founded ad firm Wieden+Kennedy. A native of Oregon, he coined the Nike tagline "Just Do It."
Early life
Wieden was born in Portland, Oregon, ...
were listed as number 22 on the ''
Advertising Age
''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mul ...
'' 100 ad people of the 20th century.
Early life
Kennedy was born in
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...
, on May 31, 1939. He was the only child of Melinda Jane (nee Spoon) and James Franklin Kennedy. His mother was an administrator in a bank while his father was in the petroleum industry. He grew up in Oklahoma and on the eastern
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
. He likened his early childhood to that of
Tom Sawyer
Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...
in the wild outdoors with idyllic streams and rivers.
He worked his first job as a welder's assistant in Colorado and Oklahoma oil fields. He graduated from
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...
with a degree in fine arts including printmaking and metal sculptures.
[Horton, Cleveland (April 13, 1992). Wieden & Kennedy: Keeping Ad Game Fresh. '']Advertising Age
''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mul ...
'' He served for six years with the
Marine Corps Reserve
The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...
.
Career
Kennedy started his career in the advertising industry by moving to Chicago in 1962. He worked at many agencies in Chicago including
Young and Rubicam
VMLY&R is an American marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting, formed from the merger of VML, founded in 1992, and Young & Rubica ...
,
Benton & Bowles
Benton & Bowles (B&B) was a New York-based advertising agency founded by William Benton and Chester Bowles in 1929. One of the oldest agencies in the United States, and frequently one of the 10 largest, it merged with D'Arcy-MacManus Masius in ...
, Needham, and
Leo Burnett
Leo Burnett (October 21, 1891 – June 7, 1971) was an American advertising executive and the founder of Leo Burnett Company, Inc. He was responsible for creating some of advertising's most well-known characters and campaigns of the 20th cent ...
. He worked there for 16 years before moving to
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, in 1979 to work with
McCann Erickson
McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McCann, expe ...
. This was where he met his future collaborator and partner
Dan Wieden
Dan Gordon Wieden (; March 6, 1945 – September 30, 2022) was an American advertising executive who co-founded ad firm Wieden+Kennedy. A native of Oregon, he coined the Nike tagline "Just Do It."
Early life
Wieden was born in Portland, Oregon, ...
.
The duo moved to the William Cain advertising agency where they made the first pitch for
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered ne ...
which was then a small and growing company based in
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, in the U.S. state of Oregon with a small portion bordering Portland in the Tualatin Valley. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was 97,494 at the ...
. They then started their own company
Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy (W+K; earlier styled ''Wieden & Kennedy'') is an American independent global advertising agency best known for its work for Nike. Founded by Dan Wieden and David Kennedy, and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, it is one of the l ...
, styled as W+K, in 1982.
They started the company out of a former labor union hall with help from Wieden's father, who had run Gerber Advertising, on the basics of running an agency business. The company was based in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, at a time when most of the advertising agencies were in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, and
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
.
In one of the agency's most popular campaigns for
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered ne ...
in 1988, Kennedy was the creative director of the first commercial to use Wieden's slogan "Just do it" which featured an 80-year-old man named Walt Stack who ran 17 miles every morning.
The campaign slogan was called "America's second anthem" by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
Working with Wieden, he also developed the campaign for Honda scooters which had American musician and lead of
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise w ...
,
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...
, calling out "Don't settle for walking". Much of the Wieden+Kennedy agency's success was tied to Nike. Other popular campaigns run by the agency for Nike included "Bo Knows" which featured football and baseball player
Bo Jackson
Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball and American football player. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both baseball and football. Jackson's el ...
and "
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
and Mike" which brought together filmmaker
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
and basketball legend
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...
.
The agency was noted for breaking many of the norms of the traditional advertising industry and was referred to as a "temple of outrageousness" for some of their non-conventional actions that deviated from traditional advertising agency norms.
The agency installed a basketball court with bleacher seats in their headquarters in Portland.
The agency remained independent at the time of Kennedy's death in 2021, with eight offices worldwide and over 1,500 employees.
Some of the other brands that the agency has served include
Travel Oregon The Oregon Tourism Commission, which does business as Travel Oregon, is a semi-independent agency of the government of Oregon based in the state capital of Salem. The agency is run by a nine-member board appointed by the governor, and governs sever ...
,
Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
,
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
,
Old Spice
Old Spice is an American brand of male grooming products encompassing aftershaves, deodorants and antiperspirants, shampoos, body washes, and soaps. It is manufactured by Procter & Gamble.
Old Spice was launched as Early American Old Spice by W ...
,
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
,
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
and
Heinz
The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six conti ...
.
Kennedy was known to be quieter than his more talkative partner and was also noted to be meticulous. His colleagues created a typeface based on his handwriting, named Kennedy, and used the typeface internally. He resisted the move to computers by choosing to design with a pen, a cutting board, and a
X-Acto
X-Acto is a brand name for a variety of cutting tools and office products owned by Elmer's Products, Inc. Cutting tools include hobby and utility knives, saws, carving tools and many small-scale precision knives used for crafts and other applic ...
knife. He mentored many of the younger employees at the agency.
He appeared at the agency office every day in faded denim shirt and denim trousers, which led his employees to gift him 50 pairs of
Levi's
Levi Strauss & Co. () is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's () brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to o ...
denims on his 50th birthday.
He also used to carry a ring of keys tied to his belt loop, leading to at least one instance where he was mistaken to be a janitor by an executive's wife.
A creative accelerator program aimed at younger employees getting into the advertising profession was set up in London in 2010 was called ''The Kennedys'' in his honor.
Kennedy and Wieden were listed as number 22 on the ''
Advertising Age
''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mul ...
'' 100 ad people of the 20th century. Kennedy was featured in filmmaker
Doug Pray
Doug Pray is an American documentary film director, cinematographer, and editor who often explores unique subcultures in his films. His work includes '' Surfwise'' (2008), a portrait of the nomadic, 11-member Doc Paskowitz family (often referred ...
's 2009 documentary
Art & Copy
''Art & Copy'' is a 2009 documentary film, directed by Doug Pray, about the advertising industry in the U.S. The film follows the careers of advertisers, including Hal Riney, George Lois, Mary Wells Lawrence, Dan Wieden, and Lee Clow. The documen ...
on the American advertising industry.
Kennedy retired in 1995,
[Elliott, Stuart (June 2, 1993)]
Wieden & Kennedy Co-Founder Resigns
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''[Feder, Barnaby J. (August 17, 1994)]
Wieden Broadens Creative Team.
''The New York Times'' but continued to work part-time on the
American Indian College Fund
The American Indian College Fund is a nonprofit organization that helps Native American students, providing them with support through scholarships and funding toward higher education. The fund provides an average of 6,000 annual scholarships for ...
, a
pro bono
( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...
account for W+K.
The last campaign he worked for the fund appeared in ''The New York Times'', a day after he died.
Personal life
Kennedy married Kathleen Murphy in 1963. The couple met in 1961 in Colorado. They went on to have five children. One of his sons pre-deceased him in 2016.
After his retirement, he made metal sculptures and lived in
Clackamas County
Clackamas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the Native ...
southeast of
Oregon City
)
, image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg
, imagesize =
, image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845
, image_flag =
, image_seal = Oregon City seal.png
, image_map ...
.
Kennedy died of heart failure on October 10, 2021, aged 82, at his home in
Estacada, Oregon
Estacada is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, about southeast of Portland. The 2020 population is estimated to be 3,700. According to the 2010 census, the population in 2010 was 2,695. It is the 89th largest city in Oregon and t ...
.
References
External links
David Kennedy profilein 100 ad people of the 20th century.
Kennedyadv Art and Copy on PBSThe KennedysLondon-based creative accelerator program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, David
1939 births
2021 deaths
Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon
University of Colorado alumni
American advertising executives
People from Clackamas County, Oregon
People from Wichita, Kansas
Military personnel from Kansas
Wieden+Kennedy people
20th-century American businesspeople