Nike rehires 1988 intern as next CEO. Here are Elliott Hill’s first hurdles.

Simone Del Rosario: Nike’s new CEO has a lot of ground to make up. 

This week, the company announced the sudden retirement of 4-year CEO John Donahoe.

And returning from retirement to lead the company is Elliott Hill, who last led commercial and marketing ops for Nike and the Jordan brand in 2020. 

Hill spent 32 years with the company, from intern to incoming CEO. He starts the job on October 14. 

Nike complimented John Donahoe for leading the company through the pandemic, but frankly, in a lot of areas, Nike’s been lapped by competitors under Donahoe’s reign. 

In the past year alone, Nike’s stock has fallen as much as 42% off its 52-week peak. 

Donahoe’s resume includes CEO of eBay and software company ServiceNow. But during his time at Nike, analysts say his focus was too much on selling directly to consumers and not enough on providing them with new, innovative products to buy. 

And his marketing approach may have fallen a bit flat in the age of social media. 

John Donahoe: Our experience has been when we launch these big moments in sport, we then cascade them down to consumers all over the world. 

Simone Del Rosario: Yes, Nike has the record-breaking marathon shoe, the Alphafly 3. And even still, it didn’t cascade down. Nike’s losing the race in running shoes to cult running brands Hoka and On. 

It’s not just a Nike problem. There’s real momentum behind smaller brands and spot-on marketing. Take Vuori, the athletic fashion brand stealing market share from lululemon. The brand partnered with more than 400 college athletes last year, most notably, LSU gymnast and social media sensation Livvy Dunne. 

Elliott Hill: If you think about it. Before Social media, Athletes needed Nike to build their brand. Pause for a moment on that one. So, athletes wanted to be a part of Nike cause Nike would help showcase them and build their brand. Today, They want Nike, they don’t have to have nike. They can build their brand through social media and whatnot. 

Simone Del Rosario: Nike is hoping the re-hiring of Hill will kick brand excitement into another gear. They’re thinking: who better than someone who’s been digging into the brand’s marketing since he was an Ohio University grad student in the ’80s? 

Elliott Hill: I take a sports marketing class and do a paper on Nike, literally, just by chance. I love the brand, I love the product, and I write this paper on Nike about their evolution of their marketing funds. They started doing athletes first and then print, and started to move into some TV. I did this paper and by chance a month late someone from Nike by name of Tim Joyce speaks at the university, and I went up to him after I just said, Hey, I want to work for Nike. He said if you want to work for Nike, meet me at this cafe. I put on my suit on and met him. There’;s a whole story about that, but I bothered him for about 6 months until he finally hired me. 

Simone Del Rosario: Nike’s stock surged 10% when the company announced the 1988 intern was taking the lead. 

For SAN, I’m SDR.