Nike, ON Running e Hoka: Strategia di brand e partecipazione culturale nell’era del DTC

Over recent years, marketing has undergone a significant transformation, shifting from product-centric to customer-centric approaches. This evolution has been shaped by digital innovation, increased personalisation, and the growing adoption of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) strategies. While these models emphasise individual experience and data-driven interactions, they can overlook the role of social dynamics, communities, and intermediaries. This thesis examines the tensions between radical customer-centricity and collective forms of brand value creation. Building on a framework that connects customer experience, disintermediation, and brand ecosystems, it analyses three case studies in the sporting goods industry (Nike, On, Hoka) through a comparative lens, using a concise matrix to position observations over time. The study investigates how different strategies engage – or struggle to engage – with distribution architectures, cultural participation, and relational depth.