<P> In 1964, in its first year in business, BRS sold 1,300 pairs of Japanese running shoes grossing $8,000 . By 1965 the fledgling company had acquired a full - time employee, and sales had reached $20,000 . In 1966, BRS opened its first retail store, located at 3107 Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California next to a beauty salon, so its employees no longer needed to sell inventory from the back of their cars . In 1967, due to rapidly increasing sales, BRS expanded retail and distribution operations on the East Coast, in Wellesley, Massachusetts . </P> <P> By 1971, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger was nearing an end . BRS prepared to launch its own line of footwear, which would bear the Swoosh newly designed by Carolyn Davidson . The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18, 1971, and was registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, 1974 . </P> <P> In 1976, the company hired John Brown and Partners, based in Seattle, as its first advertising agency . The following year, the agency created the first "brand ad" for Nike, called "There is no finish line", in which no Nike product was shown . By 1980, Nike had attained a 50% market share in the U.S. athletic shoe market, and the company went public in December of that year . </P> <P> Together, Nike and Wieden + Kennedy have created many print and television advertisements, and Wieden + Kennedy remains Nike's primary ad agency . It was agency co-founder Dan Wieden who coined the now - famous slogan "Just Do It" for a 1988 Nike ad campaign, which was chosen by Advertising Age as one of the top five ad slogans of the 20th century and enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution . Walt Stack was featured in Nike's first "Just Do It" advertisement, which debuted on July 1, 1988 . Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to "Let's do it", the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed . </P>

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