It all started when Donahoe took over as CEO and made the controversial decision to restructure Nike’s product and marketing departments, eliminating long-established categories like running, soccer, basketball, fitness and training in favor of simplified, gender-focused labels like “men’s,” “women’s” and “kids.” Not only did this shift alienate a core group of designers and marketers—many of whom left in droves—it also hampered Nike’s ability to speak authentically to specific athletic communities, diluting its competitive advantage in innovation and niche marketing.
Under Donahoe’s leadership, Nike centralized its marketing efforts and pushed a digital strategy. This resulted in the abandonment of the bold, emotionally charged campaigns that once defined the brand, such as the iconic Announcement of “failure” from 1997, with Michael Jordan reflecting on his missed shots and losses, and the “Find your greatness” campaigns in 2012, which celebrated everyday athletes pushing their limits. These campaigns struck a chord with audiences because they addressed universal themes of human struggle and triumph.
Instead, Nike took a more clinical and algorithmic approach, which Giunco called the “infamous editorial strategy.” The goal was to produce micro-targeted content optimized for digital platforms, but this approach failed.
Instead of creating compelling narratives, Nike flooded its social media channels with a deluge of content that was both costly and ineffective. These posts, designed to drive traffic to Nike’s e-commerce platforms, failed to convert visitors into customers. Worse, they eroded Nike’s once-powerful ability to tell stories, leaving a void in emotional connection with its audience.
Can Nike regain its cultural edge?
Despite all this, Nike remains one of the most famous and popular brands in the world. It remains the market leader in its sector and still makes $5 billion in earnings before interest and taxes each year ($5.7 billion in fiscal year 2024) without a single dollar of debt.
Nicoline Van Enter suggests that Nike could benefit from focusing on local manufacturing and innovation hubs, similar to how On Running has leveraged its proximity to cutting-edge manufacturing equipment in Europe.
“He Light spray “Everything they have produced is possible because On Running is in Switzerland and the producer of the LightSpray manufacturing equipment is in Germany,” he explains. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of global supply chains, and Nike’s reliance on Asian manufacturing has proven to be a bottleneck.
Of course, such a turnaround can’t be done quickly, something Nike knows all too well. “A recovery on this scale takes time,” CFO Matthew Friend said during Nike’s conference call with analysts last Thursday. “In the short term, it’s a marketing fix,” Van Enter agrees.
Another of Hill’s immediate tasks will be to rebuild relationships not only with retailers but also with athletes, influencers and creatives who helped shape Nike’s image over the past few decades.
There is already talk of rekindling key collaborations, revisiting partnerships that once gave Nike unrivaled street credibility and bringing back some of the design and marketing talent that left during Donahoe’s tenure.
“If Nike can create that emotional connection again, if it can make its products seem aspirational, narrow and desirable, rather than overproduced and commoditized, it has a real chance of regaining its crown,” Ropes says. Whether it will have the heart (and stomach) to undertake this task remains to be seen.