Nike: Big shoes to fill

When Nike took a stand last year, I saw it as an excellent brand play. While that hasn’t changed, recent developments based on LeBron James and the protests in Hong Kong are proving to be a test of character for the brand, because billions of dollars of revenue from China are at stake. Despite the high stakes, this could prove to be an invaluable lesson for the brand on how to shape its personality to navigate the storms that lie ahead. The die is cast, and Nike now needs to fill its own big shoes.

vs Amazon

An interesting conversation on listing on Amazon led me to think about what a legit competitor to that giant will look like. Walmart’s efforts have been around trying to out-Amazon Amazon, and I wouldn’t bet on that ending well. But there exist interesting possibilities, outside of Facebook and Google as well.