To compel people to bring about social change, activist brands must develop moral competency to ensure that they are perceived as authentic. However, there is limited research on the processes underpinning brands’ moral competency development. Furthermore, prior research on authentic brand activism has largely conceived of brands as singular entities as opposed to networks of diverse actors. Consequently, little is known about how inter-organisational collaborations influence brands’ moral competency development and ability to engage in authentic activism. We address this gap by presenting a case study of Nike, Inc./Wieden+Kennedy campaigns from 2017 to 2021 centred on women’s empowerment and of controversies from this period surrounding discrimination of female employees at Nike, Inc. By locating brand activism within the advertising client–agency relationship, we develop a cyclical model of activist brands’ moral competency development. Our model highlights that moral competency is not a static feature of brands but develops dynamically, and we identify the mobilisation of interactional expertise as a key driver of moral competency development. Furthermore, our model shows that a brand’s moral competency is not developed by a single organisation but through inter-organisational collaborations. We also demonstrate the challenges emerging from these collaborations and develop practical implications for activist brands.

为了迫使人们带来社会变革，激进品牌必须发展道德能力，以确保它们被认为是真实的。然而，对品牌道德能力发展过程的研究还很有限。此外，先前对真实品牌行动主义的研究很大程度上将品牌视为单一实体，而不是多元化参与者的网络。因此，人们对组织间合作如何影响品牌道德能力发展和参与真正行动主义的能力知之甚少。我们通过对 Nike, Inc./Wieden+Kennedy 2017 年至 2021 年期间以女性赋权为中心的活动以及这一时期围绕 Nike, Inc. 女性员工歧视的争议进行案例研究来解决这一差距。客户与代理机构的关系，我们开发了一个激进品牌道德能力发展的循环模型。我们的模型强调，道德能力不是品牌的静态特征，而是动态发展的，并且我们将互动专业知识的调动视为道德能力发展的关键驱动力。此外，我们的模型表明，品牌的道德能力不是由单个组织开发的，而是通过组织间的合作开发的。我们还展示了这些合作中出现的挑战，并为激进品牌提出了实际影响。