Mandeep Malhotra on how Nike’s ‘+’ matters…

As the sun sets after an engaging and amazing session by DraftUlka, which received a standing ovation by the audience, everyone awaits Nike and R/GA session on building a new ecosystem for consumer experience. Expectations are high post the earlier session and Nike has big shoes (no pun intended) to fill in. However, it’s Nike and they did say ‘Just Do It’, so I await eagerly with the others.

The session is conducted by Stefan Olander, Vice President of Digital Sport, Nike and Bob Greenberg, Global Chief Creative Officer, R/GA. Following on the heels of the success of Nike+ running, the company is trying to expand its portfolio. Nike continues to revolutionise technology in sport to inspire and enable every athlete to get better. As stated by Stefan, it has a desire to measure in unique ways. And they are set to achieve the vision through their product innovations.

It believes that if you have a body you are an athlete. It works on athletes and crafts out customised shoes for them. They say that people come to Nike and say, ‘help me just do it' and we work on that. They do not say ‘just do it’ but they also give the consumer the technology and the tools to perform.

Nike’s motto is, people want to be motivated and they want to make it easy, so the consumers stay motivated and active. It firmly believes that in their business, people love to be measured and as per them you can't improve what you can't measure. Nike+ is an example of their vision. It is simple. The customer purchases a cheap sensor (an accelerometer) and inserts it into the sole of a compatible Nike running shoe. The sensor transmits data wirelessly to the runner’s iPod, so that when he presses the ‘start’ button, the iPod begins recording the time, speed, and distance of the run.

When the user syncs the iPod with his home computer, that data is uploaded. This has brought in a revolution as per Nike, and has inspired people to do more. Nike Fuel is another extended example where technology is used to connect from your wrist to the phone to the web – it's a chain of inspiration that will push the consumer to ‘Just Do It’. For Nike Fuel, it does not matter where you are and who you are, the only thing that matters is that we are connected and we can measure. Both these qualities will motivate the consumer. Our wrists will measure how active we are, and will tell us by day, week, month or year, our statistics after connecting to the phone or web. This is an innovation that many would be excited and intrigued with. Stefan encourages you to buy it in simple Nike style by stating ‘Just Buy it’ and measure.

Nike+ is the way forward for the company. They are moving from products to products + services model that would give them loyal customers, as Nike is linking its services with today’s lifestyle and trying to connect at an emotional level.

Vision is clear that they would not like to be visited once a year for their product. The emotional connect with the services offered with the product will help in not getting eroded from consumers’ memory and becoming a part of the emotion. Simply stating I am Nike+ and ‘+’ is what matters.

Nike has realised the importance of moving with the times and it is doing this activity in a systematic manner. Traditional marketing is not for it anymore; instead it works with its partner on product innovation and consulting. It believes in bringing a cultural change and that happens the best through customer feedback. Though at times feedback is brutal, however it’s honest and that helps in growing. It listens to its customers and then puts that into action. It takes those insights and puts them in product innovation. Nike’s Innovation Kitchen is a small team that constantly looks for avenues to use technology while merging with its products and making a value enabled product.

The session made me see Nike as a company that constantly and continually experiments by adding new service offerings with its current model. It does it as new technologies become available and new ways for customers to realise value in context are discovered. Nike can proudly say ‘Just did It’; however, I am sure they are sharp enough to not live in the past but constantly look towards the future with a promise of ‘doing it’.

The author, Mandeep Malhotra, is President, Mudra Max. He was blogging on the session ‘Nike & R/GA - Building a New Ecosystem for Consumer Experience’ at Cannes Lions 2012