Nike hires new CEO Elliot Hill to replace John Donahoe
Today, Nike, Inc. announced its replacement of much-criticized former CEO, John Donahoe, with Elliott Hill (pictured above.)
The move came mere days after Bloomberg published a devastating assessment of Donahoe’s tenure: The Man Who Made Nike Uncool. Instead of fulfilling fans’ desires to invest in R&D and realize the company’s golden era marketing aspirations as a high tech innovator, Donahoe’s reported approach more closely resembled that of a “fast fashion” brand: squeezing consumers, retailers, and workers alike to increase margins for decades-old models like the Nike Dunk. Though earnings rose under Donahoe’s tenure, the company ultimately failed the “vibes test,” resulting in a widespread loss of confidence. Earlier this year, share prices plummeted following projected revenue declines, due in no small part to sagging sales in North America, as the company’s missteps began to catch up with it.
Donahoe’s “direct to consumer” pivot ceded retail shelf space to rivals both new and old, allowing rivals like Hoka, ASICS, and On to gain visibility in Nike’s prized running category. Sneaker collectors, long weary of jumping through hoops to pay ballooning prices for decrepit tech and unfaithful replicas of classic sneakers, increasingly shifted attention and allegiance to the likes of New Balance. Repeated layoffs and the departure of key personnel eroded the company’s talent base.
Even Nike’s seemingly unassailable lead in basketball is now under threat. Adidas’ first signature shoe for Anthony Edwards made waves following its launch earlier this year, and New Balance recently announced the addition of top prospect Cooper Flagg to its growing endorsement team.
Nike remains a dominant force in the industry, with a large and enviable roster of sponsored athletes, but the brand has lost some of its luster and identity. Once marketed as a renegade, youthful underdog, Nike has since become the stagnant, establishment empire against which such underdogs rally.
Even as an overreliance on nostalgia contributed to the company’s recent stumbles, it again looked to the past when charting its path forward. In its press release, Nike stressed incoming CEO Elliott Hill’s longtime connection to the company, perhaps sensing the need to draw a sharp contrast against an unpopular outbound executive with no prior footwear experience often caricaturized as operating out of his depth.
Is Elliott Hill the right choice for the moment? Let us know in our forums.
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Reactions adobecs4We most likely about to see great things.
Reactions aquatic barefoot and darumaHopefully NB can ramp it up.
Under Donahoe’s leadership, the company grew annual sales by more than 31%, but it got there by churning out legacy franchises such as Air Force 1s, Dunks and Air Jordan 1s — not the groundbreaking styles that turned the company into a global powerhouse.
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Reactions 703 hwy and BurglekuttI saw some coming soon new pink Jordan 1 colorway the other day. Wonder how long that will sit on shelves in retailers and warehouses?
Reactions 703 hwy😂🤣😂🤣
i blame Kanye and his plastic ex-wife for this garbage fashion era we’re in
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Reactions rolaholic and TSCQits where we’re at, women used to have style….WE used to have style.
its the phones. its not just fashion, its in everything now.
too much to type right now, ill explain later
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Reactions ALNotSureNb got so many fly models and colorways but those aren't it
try asking my position instead of laughing. it prevents you from looking stupid later.
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Reactions ALNotSurebut according to reports they about to divorce and part of it is Kanye picks out all her clothes lol..
so that’s on him
Reactions sharpshooter718, kidoopz, titang545 and 54 othersYou hid behind the trash can to take this?
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Reactions ntva28, Upptempo, moe200069 and 14 otherssince social media WAY MORE people have gotten into shoes, so the market has grown....
cats just tryna stand out from the crowd so they going with alternative brands
but we all know who the big dawg in the yard is.
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Reactions 703 hwy, Moheezy, frshstunna and 11 othersYou'd be surprised.
Our team has been presented with what were essentially insulting "volunteer" requests from people at Nike on more than one occasion.
In the early 2000's, someone on the Jordan Brand team even went so far as to forward a message from a third-party firm that included a script for us to follow to promote a contest or something. This was back when we were all still chipping in to keep the site ad-free, we'd already been told that our forums had become an indispensable source of market research, and yet apparently that wasn't enough. They expected members of our team to act as their mouthpieces, likely because they assumed we were all such big fans that we were, I guess, supposed to consider it an "honor."
In each such instance, the conversation abruptly ends the instant you demonstrate a functioning spinal column.
Nike's a big company with a lot of turnover (especially now.) It would be a mistake to attribute to it one consistent "voice" or attitude. Some of the people there came up through communities like ours and maintain great respect for them. Others just crowd-surf in on privilege and want to act like they built something. Unfortunately, yet unsurprisingly, it seems someone in that latter camp is all too eager to exploit the brand's cachet for free labor.
I'm glad to see them getting aired out for it, and hopefully it will raise awareness among fans, too, to be on guard for this.
I've seen people twist themselves into knots running errands for people at brands like Nike just in the hopes that they might be considered for future employment.
Have some respect for yourself. Don't accept spec work from big corporations.
What we call "brand loyalty" is generally better described as exploitation.
True loyalty is reciprocal.
Reactions lothar, ntva28, earldagoat and 13 othersThose are terrible, my brother in Christ. Respectfully.
Reactions sharpshooter718, ntva28, moe200069 and 10 othersstarted from the bottom
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Reactions urbanmiracle, jordanhead718212, kickz4242 and 8 othersPeople say this like New Balance, Saucony, Asics....are putting out all this creativity and innovation
It's just that every 5-10 years people discover other brands, but they're putting out mostly "retros"
It's a cycle. It's weird most of you have been on this board for years and don't even recognize it. Same thing over and over, dunks are hot, dunks are cold, dunks are hot.
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Reactions earldagoat, Brownstone, fluid hips and 7 othersThe hoods have always determined what’s “trending “
You guys in here mentioning hokas and On cloud, I have never in my life seen those on someone’s feet and been like o man that’s a cool person, I need to get those shoes to copy them. Never happens. We are talking “trends” so not buy what you like.
I think the real issue is the hoods are lost. And left trend setting to rich middle class kids that have zero style. Social media destroyed regional hood trends.
It gained a bit of momentum when the UK hood scene started popping with their fashions, but that was also over saturated on social and conservative media, leading to fatigue.
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Reactions ntva28, ALNotSure, kickvicisous and 6 others**** is all a cycle.
Vomero's dropped five years ago and nobody wanted them, but now they're hot.
Most customers don't know what they want, they're just sheep who follow along with what the masses do. They see "influencers' wearing New Balance and Asics and they follow.
Reactions daruma, sneaksoy, vinnuendo and 5 othersAll the innovation nobody cares about.
Reactions WASHED KING, pirateslaw, ALNotSure and 5 othersI hope he muted the phone or else I know there was a loud click when he took that pic 😆
Reactions calye2da, computersputin, cragmatic and 5 othersThis isn't even factoring in the economy or how it has gotten increasingly harder for the younger generation to even move out of their parents crib and attempt to live like independent adults. 1k is rent - 50% of rent depending on where you're staying at in the country.
Nike created this monster and is the core reason the fake market has gotten as big as it is. They leaned too hard into the hype and limited marketing and left a huge gap to be filled.
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