“We are seeing the other side of the crisis in China. We now have a playbook we can use elsewhere.”

That was Nike CEO John Donahoe’s bold claim on an earnings conference call way back in March when the pandemic first hit. As we wrote at the time, Nike’s Covid-19 “playbook” involved a hard pivot to digital sales and marketing, building on efforts that had been in the works for years. The company acknowledged taking a hit, but argued that its aggressive digital embrace minimized the pain in China, and could do so in other markets.