Nike's brand recognition is not in question. In our scan, every model we tested identified Nike as a major sports brand — its 9.2 brand-recognition score is the highest in the set.
This piece is about a narrower question: when shoppers ask AI assistants for a running shoe recommendation, how often do those assistants surface Nike — and what do they say? Across the US running queries we tested in April 2026, Nike surfaced less often than Hoka, On Running, and Brooks.
Below is what our scan found, the sources our scan saw the models cite, and our read of what those patterns suggest a CMO might do about it.
For this scan we asked four AI models — GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet, Gemini 2.5, and Llama 3.3 — a set of US running discovery prompts: category questions, specific use cases (marathon training, daily comfort, trail), attribute comparisons, and direct head-to-heads. Nike was never named in the prompt; we let the models reach for brands on their own.
What our scan saw on running queries
In our April 2026 scan, when prompts framed the user as a "runner" — preparing for a marathon, looking for daily training shoes, asking about cushion or stack height — the models we tested more often surfaced specialist brands first. When prompts framed the user around lifestyle or design ("cool sneakers", "stylish trainers"), Nike surfaced more often. The two halves of the scan looked quite different.
The attribute pattern in our scan tracks with that split. Nike scored 9.2 on brand recognition (the highest in the set we tested), 4.1 on running expertise, 2.2 on serious-runner trust, and 2.9 on comfort and cushioning. These numbers are RadarFox metrics from this scan; they describe the language the four models reached for, not Nike's actual products.
What our scan saw the models cite
When the models we tested talked about Nike in a running context, they leaned on a small set of sources. Three patterns showed up across our prompt set:
- In our scan, specialist running publications (Runner's World and similar) appeared in roughly 61% of running prompts where any source surfaced. The framing in those citations leaned toward Hoka and On as current performance picks; Nike framing in those citations skewed toward heritage.
- In our scan, the r/running subreddit appeared in roughly 58% of running prompts. The community-derived framing the models pulled from there was largely sceptical of Nike for daily training, in favour of Hoka and On.
- In our scan, nike.com appeared in roughly 8% of running prompts. The pages the models cited from Nike's own site read as lifestyle and culture content rather than structured product or performance information.
In other scans we have run for legacy category leaders, owned media tends to score lower on AI citation influence than third-party publications and community sites. Where the gap is widest, the brand surfaces less in discovery prompts than its share of category mentions might suggest. Nike's pattern in our April 2026 running scan is consistent with that broader observation; we are not generalising it to other categories or scans.
How the brands above Nike showed up
In the same scan, Hoka surfaced at 68% AI Visibility, On Running at 52%, Brooks at 39%. The citations the models pulled around Hoka clustered on specialist running media and coached-community sources; the citations around On clustered on energy-return and engineering language across similar sources. We don't have evidence here of what those brands spent or how they got there — only of what the four models we tested reached for in April 2026.
Six moves a CMO might consider
The actions below are derived from what our April 2026 scan surfaced — specific sources, attribute scores, and gaps. They are options for a CMO to consider, not predictions about Nike's market outcomes. They are sequenced by where we think a measurable AI-visibility shift is most likely.