What happens when a brand built for sport loses some of its focus?

Important to note as part of the issues with Nike is their focus on direct to consumer [1] that left space open at physical retailers for other brands to get distribution and exposure.

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/12/nike-ceo-acknowledges-it-wen...

The article is about Nike. I think that Nike is an interesting case study but I don’t really like this article.

A fitness YouTuber / influencer who I follow thinks that part of Nike’s issues was that they never had a good strategy for influencer marketing, which has became very important recently for apparel brands.

Video, but I summarized the main point: https://youtu.be/TXEB0iC2UbA?feature=shared

nike has certainly lost something in the last decade

my spouse and i recall the last shoe we wanted from them were the old free 2s because they were light, comfy, and versatile

we just stopped by the clearance store yesterday and half the womens shoes had the thick, platform sole and my spouse commented on how several would be perfect if not for the platform. maybe theyll start phasing that out now

theres a massive billboard in portland with a female athlete that says "YOU CANT WIN. SO WIN." and my spouse finds it incredibly out of touch and in poor taste. maybe they tried too much

A whole lot of words to say basically nothing. Are we really equating a 30 day move in stock price with a company wide turnaround?