Nike's Back In The Game...
Nike is winning back its audience through content, culture-led collabs and community engagements...
Happy Bank Holiday Monday!
It’s official – Nike’s back in the game.
After a slower couple of years and rising competition, Nike is ramping up its marketing efforts again. And it’s doing so in a way that’s fresh, smart, and very Gen Z.
In the lead-up to this year’s London Marathon, Nike launched an immersive new pop-up called RunTown, an experiential space by runners, for runners, packed with interactive touchpoints that go way beyond product. The pop-up has treadmills to test the latest shoes, a full-on Nike race hub upstairs for people getting ready to race (or just dropping in pre/post run), plus a fuel bar, recovery zone with Hyperice, and their full race-day product lineup on show. They’re also running a solid programme of talks with athletes and coaches, turning a retail moment into a full community experience.
But it’s not just about one activation. It’s about the broader strategy Nike’s rolling out: blending community, content, experiences, and collabs into a playbook that’s clearly designed to win back their audience and build more brand loyalty.
Let’s break down what they’re doing and why it works 👇
🏃Community isn’t just a buzzword — it’s the backbone
Nike’s not just talking community — they’re investing in it.
RunTown is a perfect example: a space built specifically for London’s running community, complete with free physio sessions, athlete panels, coaching talks, and product trial zones. But more than anything, it gives runners a place to connect with each other and the brand.
Gen Z is big on wellbeing, mental health, and intentionality. By designing spaces that feel supportive, Nike is tapping into that mindset and deepening its emotional connection with consumers. Gen Z doesn’t want to be sold to, they want to feel seen, supported, and part of something bigger. Nike’s not just showing up — they’re embedding themselves in their customers fitness journey. And that builds way more long-term loyalty than any ad campaign ever could. This is what makes brand experiences stick, when people don’t just remember what you did, but how it made them feel.
📍 Hyperlocal = hyper relevant
Nike’s superpower has always been its hyperlocal marketing, they actively engage with local communities, understand their cultural nuances, and adapts its messaging and products accordingly. You can see this with its collaborations with Coretiz, Slawn, Talk Nice, and now ‘You Wasnt Der’, a growing London collective of Gen Z fitness enthusiasts. The collaboration seems very authentic with a build up of You Wasnt Der, painting the streets of London orange with a huge run, members of You Wasnt Der featuring in Nike’s London Eye running campaign and now dropping a capsule collection with the crew. Authentic collabs like this signal that Nike is very much attuned to the local culture, conversations and communities, and they’re here to co-create, not colonise.
🎥 Content that’s built into the experience
Everything Nike’s doing is made for the feed — and they know it.
From custom poster-making stations to panel talks and shakeout runs, RunTown is full of moments that feel personal, aesthetic, and very Instagrammable. Nike’s not relying on ad spend to get attention, they’re creating content through experiences, and letting the community spread it organically.
This kind of user-generated content doesn’t just boost reach, it builds trust and social proof, which hits way harder with Gen Z than any polished brand video.
🧠 Strategy in motion: long-term brand play
It’s exciting to see Nike back with intention and a bit of vengeance. As a true sports marketing nerd, this is the kind of energy I’ve been waiting for. Because when the biggest player steps it up, the whole category levels up. Competition breeds creativity, and honestly, it’s been missing for a while.
To win Gen Z, brands need to show up both online and IRL. Nike’s leaning into community-first activations, hyperlocal collabs, content-rich experiences, and emotional touchpoints to rebuild its brand equity.
The ROI isn’t always instant, but this is how you build long-term love and win in a crowded market.
Let’s wrap it up:
✔️ Go hyperlocal, not just global
✔️ Build experiences people want to share
✔️ Tap into real communities
✔️ Collaborate with culture, not just on top of it
Have a great rest of your day!