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 such as running, football, basketball, fitness, and training in favor of simplified, gender-led labels such as “men,” “women,” and “kids.” This shift not only alienated a core group of designers and marketers, many of whom left en masse, but also muddled Nike’s ability to speak authentically to specific athletic communities, diluting its competitive edge in innovation and niche marketing.
Under Donahoe’s leadership, Nike centralized its marketing efforts and pushed for a digitally led strategy. This resulted in the abandonment of the bold, emotionally charged campaigns that once defined the brand—like the iconic “Failure” ad from 1997, featuring Michael Jordan reflecting on his missed shots and losses, and the “Find Your Greatness” campaign from 2012, which celebrated ordinary athletes pushing their limits. These campaigns struck a chord with audiences because they tapped into universal themes of human struggle and triumph.
Instead, Nike pivoted to a more clinical, algorithmic approach, which Giunco referred to as the “infamous editorial strategy.” The aim was to churn out micro-targeted content optimized for digital platforms, but this approach backfired.
Rather than 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 ecommerce platforms, did little to convert visitors into customers. Worse yet, they eroded Nike’s once-powerful storytelling ability, leaving a void in emotional connection with its audience.
Can Nike Regain Its Cultural Edge?
Despite all this, Nike is still one of the most famous and popular brands in the world. It is still the market leader of its industry, and still makes $5 billion of earnings before interests and taxes every year ($5.7 billion in fiscal year 2024) without a 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.
“The LightSpray that they have produced is possible to do because On Running is in Switzerland and the producer of LightSpray manufacturing equipment is in Germany,” she 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 shift cannot be done quickly, which Nike is well aware of. “A comeback at this scale takes time,” chief financial officer Matthew Friend said during Nike’s call with analysts last Thursday. “In the short term this is a marketing fix,” agrees Van Enter.
Another one of Hill’s immediate tasks will be to rebuild relationships—not just with retailers, but with athletes, influencers, and creatives who helped shape Nike’s image over the past decades.
There’s already talk of rekindling key collaborations, revisiting partnerships that once brought Nike unparalleled street cred, and bringing back some of the design and marketing talent that departed during Donahoe’s tenure.
“If Nike can create that emotional connection again—if they can make their products feel aspirational, limited, and desirable, rather than overproduced and commodified—they’ll have a real shot at reclaiming their crown,” says Ropes. Whether they’ve got the heart (and stomach) for this undertaking remains yet to be seen.