Nike’s very first golf poster is still amazing even today
Seve Ballesteros was the first golfer Nike signed to an endorsement deal.
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No problem.
Not the golf shot. Not for Seve Ballesteros. He had made a career out of solving golf problems. Under the tree. Over the tree. Left of the tree. Right of the tree. No problem.
Not a photo of the golf shot, either.
In 1984, Nike entered golf. Its most famous spokesman, Michael Jordan, was just starting his rookie season with the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. One of Nike’s most famous golf spokesmen, Tiger Woods, was 8. Another, Rory McIlroy, was five years from being born. In 1985, Nike signed its first. Ballesteros. Soon after, they needed him to pitch the product.
No problem.
Ballesteros on a tree.
“Did you know that #Seve was the first player to sign an endorsement with @Nike?” the Instagram account of the late Ballesteros posted this week under a picture of Ballesteros wearing a white visor with the words “Nike Golf” and the Nike swoosh logo in black. “In 1985, he officially carried the famous Swoosh into the world of professional golf.”
The account also posted an Instagram Live video of Ballesteros’ first Nike Golf poster.
Ballesteros on a tree. The legendary Spaniard, wearing an orange Nike Golf shirt, blue pants and brown shoes, is standing on a branch of what appears to be a white weeping willow tree. Other branches and leaves surround him. He’s holding an iron, the ball is resting next to him on the branch, and he’s smiling.
“No problema” is written below the picture.
Not for Ballesteros.
“Seve appeared on the first @NikeGolf poster addressing a ball in a tree with the headline, “No Problema,” the Instagram account also wrote.
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