The Best of Nike in 2024
It hasn’t been an for , with their victorious grip over the sneakersphere loosening and making way for other brands to swoop in, steal precious marketshare, and curry favour with diehard customers. However, the last few months have seen Nike make moves to turn their Swoosh the right way round, with a range of leadership switch-ups, well-received releases, strategic partnership moves and a renewed energy to their marketing keeping them in number one position. There may have been some lows (cough cough) but there’s also been plenty of highs for the billion-dollar brand – so let’s get into it.
Leadership 180s: Out with the New and in With the Old
When John Donahoe was appointed as successor to the CEO role in 2020, it was only the second time an ‘outsider’ had held the reins. Not only did he have to gain the trust of the company, its executives and employees, but he was thrust right into the middle of the COVID pandemic. Throughout his four-year tenure, it seems he could never quite satisfy sneakerheads and he came under criticism, mainly in the past twelve months, for not understanding the market well enough since his background wasn’t in sportswear, cutting off relationships with suppliers and opting for DTC, and failing to drive innovation within the brand. As a result of this mounting pressure, in September after four years, and Swoosh veteran came out of retirement to take the position. Due to Hill’s (he started there as an intern in 1998 and worked his way up to global management positions), confidence in the brand was restored almost overnight, with Nike stocks rising nearly 20 per cent the day after the announcement. on returning Nike’s focus to the athlete, but we’ll have to wait until next year and beyond to see what this looks like, and in particular, what this means for their heavy reliance on retros.
Although the CEO switch-up was the biggest and most influential at Nike this year, it wasn’t the only one. Two other influential members of the team returned to their positions. The first was Nicole Hubbard Graham, who was the vice president of global categories and consumer direct brand marketing before she left the Swoosh in 2021. Hubbard returned to Nike in January of this year as the chief marketing officer, and the effect on the advertising and brand messaging was immediate, with a more elevated and sophisticated style implemented (but more on this next!). was the third alumni to return to the Swoosh, having retired from his position as vice president and general manager of North America in 2020 after working with the brand for 30 years. With relationships strained after the focus on direct to consumer sales, Peddie’s return this year signals a strategic move to repair the broken partnerships with key retailers.
While just three changes, they hit most of . Donahoe seems to be tackling lack of innovation and shift from retros, Hubbard is giving Nike their unique edge back, and Peddie is set to balance out the formerly aggressive (and mildly unsuccessful) push towards DTC.
A Return to the Glory Days of Advertising
When Hubbard returned in January, she would have immediately started working on how to define Nike’s 2024 Olympic brand presence. The result was the dynamic ‘Winning Isn’t For Everyone’ campaign, which debuted on July 19 with a video narrated by Willem Dafoe and starring some of the biggest athletes in the world: , , , , , Vini Jr., Zheng Qinwen, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen. The narration comes from the athlete’s point of view and questions whether they’re a good person considering what it takes to be a winner. The campaign focus came directly from Nike athletes, with saying he’s addicted to winning, Sha’Carri Richardson saying she remembers what it feel like to lose and never wanting to feel that way again, and LeBron saying, ‘As long as I'm out there on the floor, I'm trying to be the greatest ever’.
Gritty, compelling, powerful and unapologetic – that’s Nike at their best.
Gems from the Vault and the Latest Innovations
With Dunks, Air Maxes, and the indomitable and ever-reliable Air Force 1, it’s no wonder they push out retros faster than Sha’Carri runs 100 metres. One thing that resounds across all criticism though is the need for high quality construction and materials, and it seems like Nike might be starting to listen, with the not only knocking the marketing and design out of the ball park, but also the luxurious quality and packaging. also got a good build this year, with an improved shape more like the original and solid quality. Same goes for , the uber-hyped , and the .
As for new iterations that represented Nike’s prowess, the nailed the balance between nostalgia, storytelling, and tech, while the and gave sneakerheads something they didn’t even know they wanted. Both the and struck gold on the decks, with vivacious colourways that brought back the creative spirit of the 2000s. In terms of completely new models, the Swoosh debuted the , which resonated with hardcore TN wearers, along with the football boot, the breakdancing , and the latest in the legendary Pegasus line: the .
Something that became blatantly obvious this year is the persistence of the – the hall-of-famer is a cockroach that refuses to die, with nuclear-like interest in iteration, the recent and the sold-out revival of the ‘Linen’. Another Nike classic that lives on eternally is the ‘Safari’ colourway, first made renowned by on his AM-1, which made a mammoth appearance this year on the . Boasting over 55 models, the collection wasn’t shy with the orange and black pattern and it was gobbled up. In a similar vein, their , while much smaller at just 13 models, also presented a dynamic colourway across their best performance models.
The Nike series also continued to build on its legacy of performance-driven running shoes with the unveiling of the , dubbed ‘the ultimate super trainer’. Engineered to bridge the gap between training and race day, this model features full-length carbon fibre FlyPlates and more ZoomX foam for enhanced energy return. To showcase its potential, Nike enlisted one of the greatest marathon runners ever, Eliud Kipchoge, for its development and testing. Continuing on the innovation line, Nike recently partnered with 3D-printing wizards on the brand new . Signalling a new expression of Nike’s legendary Air Max tech, the AM1000 is a futuristic reimagination of the Air Max 1. The OG’s DNA is still visible, as the 3D model boasts a similar silhouette yet deviates with a uniquely structured shape in place of the model’s usual leather mudguard.
Making Big Moves on the Court and Online
While running is Nike’s OG signature sport, basketball is hot on its heels with the Swoosh securing partnerships with the best athletes in the world like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and now, . The WNBA star caused mass buzz when she was the in this year’s draft for Indiana Fever, and word soon followed that she was in talks with the Swoosh for a lucrative eight-figure deal that would include a signature shoe. The news was confirmed soon after, with Nike coming out on top of a bidding war with Under Armour, adidas, and PUMA. Clark inked a $28-million dollar deal over 8 years, which is the richest contract for a women's hooper ever. Despite facing pressure on all sides to perform, Clark has well and truly proven she deserves the top spot, and heavily contributing to the increased interest in the women’s league this year.
In other court news, Nike also secured as the official partner of the NBA, WNBA and G League. The Swoosh have been a partner of the National Basketball Association since 1992 and the marketing partners of the WNBA since its inception in 1997. This fresh extension follows eight years of Beaverton outfitting, merchandising and marketing for the NBA, with the sportswear brand becoming the official on-court outfitter starting in the 2017/18 season.
Early this year in February, Nike made big moves in the online space when mega-streamer (and the reason all the kids are saying ‘rizz’) he had signed a partnership with Team Swoosh as their very first streamer to join the family. In September, Kai then went on to help debut the as part of Nike’s .SWOOSH imprint, which is expected to be the first of many special projects promising to blend innovation with tradition. The signing of Cenat individually is a massive move for Nike (especially since Cenat just broke the all-time subscriber record with 327,000 paid subscribers on Twitch), and in conjunction with RTFKT and .SWOOSH, it shows their continual move into the digital space.
Still Number One (Technically)
Despite all the heat Nike are copping, along with the softening financial growth and increasing competition, the Swoosh are still the number one brand according to in a survey from Piper Sandler. Likewise, Nike continues to dominate across the sneakersphere, consistently hitting as the most popular content on news sites and social media platforms. They still hold the most sway in the ‘hype’ aspect of the sneaker industry, with their products garnering the most sell-out attention and aftermarket premiums.
Moving away from the lifestyle side of the business and into performance, Nike’s has continued to rack up its accolades since its race debut last year. The lightest and most-tested Alphafly ever, it was worn by both men’s and women’s current marathon world record holders: Kelvin Kiptum and . Eliud Kipchoge also wore the super shoe when he won his fifth race at the Berlin Marathon in 2023. For 2024 marathons, the Alphafly 3 was on-foot of first-place runners in Chicago and New York, and Nike also took out first place in the Tokyo and Berlin marathons, albeit with the . For the Paris Olympics, not only did Sifan Hassan win the women’s marathon wearing the Alphafly 3, but Nike came out on top as the global brand most associated with the Olympics according to the . A combination of high profile athlete partnerships, the United States kits, and the marketing led to the Swoosh’s dominance at yet another Games.
In terms of revenue, it’s no secret are plateauing at best and decreasing at worst; however, the sheer volume of their revenue still dwarfs their competitors’. Last year, Nike’s total sales were more than ASICS, adidas, New Balance and PUMA combined at $51.2 billion, so it will be interesting to see the final numbers from 2024 for comparison. The next few years are pivotal for Nike ’s financial growth, but with 2025 looking like a monster for sneaker releases, we think they’ll be just fine.
Nike have been through the ringer this year, but it’s not their first rodeo. With all the promising changes coming out of Beaverton and exciting releases expected, including for the and anniversaries and , it’s hopeful that 2025 will be the start of their trajectory back upwards.
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