Randolph native learned to just say yes

Imagine going to work and having one-on-one conversations with Kevin Durant, LeBron James or Caitlin Clark.

Katie Gurgainus doesn’t have to imagine it. She’s living it. Gurgainus, a 2003 graduate of Southwestern Randolph High School, moved out West after graduating from UNC-Wilmington and has made quite a career in advertising and marketing. She is currently the Global Brand Director for NIKE, overseeing all global creative advertising and marketing. 

“It’s my job and it’s so wild to say I’m from Randolph County,” said Gur gainus, who has been with  NIKE for four years and is now a resident of Portland,OR. “This is a pipe dream, it’s not supposed to happen.”

While in college, Gurgainus was hoping to become a sports agent, but upon graduation, the field was hard to even get a foot in the door. She From page 1B

took a job with an advertising agency that had a public relations department and planned to work her way over there. But her plans were derailed.

“I fell in love with advertising and marketing,” she said. 

While at Wieden and Kennedy — an independent global creative company that has built and transformed some of the world’s most well-known brands and catch-phrases, including “Just Do It,” “This is SportsCenter” and “Dilly, Dilly” — Gurgainus began discovering what it took to be successful. And she was at a place where she could hone those skills.

“Every single NIKE commercial came out of this agency,” Gurgainus said. 

Throughout her career, she has worked with iconic athletes including Kobe Bryant, Durant, James, Clark and Giannis Antetokounmpko.

One stands out above all others.

“You know how they say you never want to meet your hero,” Gurgainus said of Bryant. ”He was so kind and respectful.”

Getting to where she is now hasn’t been easy.

“I worked really hard and just said yes,” Gurgainus said, mimicking NIKE’s most famous slogan of “Just Do It.” “I had to consistently say yes to things that scared me. Moving across the country to a place where I didn’t know anyone. That was one of the things I took a chance on. 

“I had to say yes to the next opportunity and I don’t think I would have seen as many things as I have seen around the world if I hadn’t chosen this career path.”

Gurgainus has spent time in London, Barcelona, Stockholm, Paris, Tokyo and across the United States.

Working with iconic athletes has become second nature to Gurgainus. She sums up her job with NIKE this way: “I get everyone where they are supposed to be and get done what is supposed to be done. 

“These are high profile people you have to manage and deal with every day and they expect a certain quality of work and they are expecting to get their way a lot,” Gurgainus added. 

“My secret sauce is remembering they are still human beings. I speak to them as normally as possible. It’s a people business. Trust and respect is everything. That’s earned.”

While constructing an ad campaign, Gurgainus said she has one simple guideline.

“It’s more about if you turn on the TV and see an ad on LeBron James, will his mom and dad like it and will they get it,” she said. “Will my mom and dad in North Carolina get it?”

One of Gurgainus’ current marketing strategies is for Clark, who has taken the WNBA by storm.

“It’s part of my job to keep perspective, but I’m spending time with Caitlin Clark,” she said. “This is my job. How cool is that?”

Gurgainus said the most important and inspirational commercial she has worked on was the NIKE ad that was shown in last year’s Super Bowl. For 27 years, NIKE elected not to purchase an ad for the “Big Game,” but reconsidered this past year.

Gurgainus spent a painstaking amount of time on the “So Win” campaign that featured high-profile athletes such as Sha’Carri Richardson, Clark, Jordan Chiles, Sabrina Ionescu, Sophia Smith Wilson, Aryna Sabalenka, JuJu Watkins, Alexia Putellas and A’ja Wilson.

The real power of the ad was in the message. Narrated by Grammy-winning rapper Doechii, the line “Whatever you do, you can’t win. So WIN” was a call for women everywhere to break free from the limitations they were told they had throughout their lives.

“When we put something out and put our big guns behind it, it’s because we want to say something and move the culture,” Gurgianus said. 

Gurgainus said her favorite ad was the final ad Bryant worked on for NIKE.

“I loved him as an athlete and loved him as a human being and to make his last NIKE ad was special,” she said. 

Gurgainus has won numerous awards for her campaigns, but doesn’t put too much into those honors. She remains humble. 

“I just feel so thankful and blessed,” she said.