ISSUE #104
This week: Nike is still one of the brands people believe in. Can it give them new reasons to keep believing?
Also this week: five brands putting memory, heritage, sustainability and human creativity to work, plus a first look at the new Authenticity.co.
| Nike: Finding Its Way Back
Ranked #4 in the Authenticity 500, Nike is trying to reconnect with what made it one of the most influential brands in the world.
Few brands have earned what Nike has: a place in culture that goes well beyond its products. From Michael Jordan to Serena Williams, Nike didn’t just sponsor athletes. It helped tell their stories and, in the process, changed how we think about sport, performance, and personal achievement.
Our community hasn’t forgotten. Nike ranks #4 in the 2026 Authenticity 500, and it has been one of our top-ranked brands since the index began.
#4
Overall rank, unchanged from 2024
51.9
People’s Vote Score (of 100)
42.1%
of Nike voters ranked it their most authentic brand
The survey comments explain why. People connect Nike’s authenticity to sport, and to its ability to inspire athletes at every level.
Never wavering from the core mission — unlocking the athlete in all of us.
The brand is about athletic achievement, consistently living up to this for 50+ years.
That belief has held steady. Nike’s business hasn’t.
Revenue was flat at $46.4 billion in fiscal 2026, and the first quarter of fiscal 2027 brought another 4% decline, to $11.2 billion. Nike has announced two rounds of job cuts this year, about 2,175 roles in total, and on October 1 unveiled a new restructuring plan, Pace, aimed at $2.5 billion in savings.
That gap is the challenge facing CEO Elliott Hill, who returned as CEO in October 2024, four years after retiring from a 32-year career at the company. His approach: put sport back at the center of the business.
Nike’s “Why Do It?” campaign, launched in September 2025, brought a new generation of athletes into the Just Do It story, including Caitlin Clark alongside LeBron James. The company has also reorganized its teams around individual sports and renewed its focus on performance products.
What creates authenticity for NIKE is our sport business.
It’s a telling statement, and Hill has been candid about why it needed saying. “We had become more lifestyle-oriented, more fashion-oriented,” he told Fox Business. Somewhere along the way, Nike became more focused on selling sneakers than on the athletes and communities that made people want to wear them.
The results show where that drift hurts most. Nike Sportswear, the lifestyle business behind just under half of revenue, fell by a low double-digit percentage last quarter. Performance, the part of the business Hill has put first, grew mid-single digits in fiscal 2026.
None of this means Nike has lost its authenticity. Our data says the opposite. But it does show what happens when a brand leans too heavily on what worked yesterday.
Its renewed investment in running and performance innovation is encouraging. The real test is whether Nike can bring back the energy and excitement that made people fall in love with the brand in the first place.
I’ve always believed the strongest brands are the ones that understand the communities they’re part of, not just the customers they’re trying to reach. Nike built its reputation by being close to athletes and understanding what drives them.
Phil Knight once said, “Nike is a marketing-oriented company, and the product is our most important marketing tool.” If that’s still true, the product has to carry the story again, not just the logo.
Nike has the athletes, the history, and one of the most recognizable logos in the world. What it needs now isn’t another reminder of how great it used to be. It needs to give people new reasons to believe.
What Nike’s Turnaround Teaches Us
01 / Remember the athletes, not just the sneakers. Nike built its reputation around sport. That connection matters more than any single product trend.
02 / Past hits are not a future strategy. Dunks and Air Jordans are part of Nike’s legacy. Performance innovation has to give the next generation something of its own.
03 / Community is more than a customer list. People in our survey still connect Nike with athletic achievement. The challenge is to keep earning that belief.
| This Week’s Standouts
What these recent brand decisions reveal about authenticity.
P.F. Chang’s is building its latest campaign around the celebrations and memories people associate with its restaurants. Why it matters: Nostalgia feels earned when it comes from customers’ actual experiences, rather than a brand simply borrowing the look of the past.
ALSO WORTH YOUR ATTENTION
Bigelow Tea receives another environmental award after years of zero-waste operations and renewable-energy investment. A long record of work carries more weight than a new sustainability promise.
True Religion shares consumer research on heritage and trust. History earns credibility, but it can’t replace the work of staying relevant.
Etsy tightens its AI listing policies, a reminder that protecting the people who make a marketplace distinctive is part of protecting the brand.
Apple Music creates its new brand animation with physical effects rather than generative AI. How something is made can say as much about a brand as the finished work.
The New Authenticity.co
We’ve rebuilt Authenticity.co to make it easier to explore the Authenticity 500, read the stories behind the rankings and share the brands you believe in.
Past Reports
This newsletter is an exclusive benefit for our Authenticity community.
Stories, research, and perspectives on the brands and people shaping authenticity.
What do you think Nike needs to get right next? Reply to this email or write to [email protected]. I read the replies.
Disclosure: Some content in this newsletter may be generated with the assistance of AI tools for research and drafting. It is reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by our editorial team before publication.
