Nike+ and the Active Lifestyle
We begin this marketing journey with, what was Nike’s problem? It’s simply really,
staying relevant in the market. When it comes to competitions between companies, it is cut-
throat. You must always be ahead of your competitors if not you will fail and your business or
company will go down with you. In order to stay ahead of the game, Nike had made a genius
plan to engage with customers through online means. As the present day customers are generally
tech-savvy, Nike had decided to create an application called Nike+ wherein users are provided
with a variety of applications that can cater to their specific lifestyles. The applications range
from Nike+ Running wherein an individual can track their running distance, time and speed to
Nike Soccer App, an app that allows a user to find soccer players and start a game all while
letting them know the location of the game. Nike+ was a revolutionary application that quickly
became a favorite within the sports and health community; the statistics it provides its users
serves as a tracking method for individuals to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Initially, Nike+ was supposed to be a running sport kits. Its functions were limited to
measuring speed, and distance. But Nike had decided to expand the application to include a
variety of sport-centric activities and statistics recorders. They had not only added an exercise
track kit for those who want to try out different training plans but Nike+ includes a way to
socially interact with other users which starts with the profile wherein users fill in general
information about themselves such as name, location, age, height, weight and distance. Nike+
acts as social media means but for people who want to maintain a sport-centric and active
lifestyles. Here an individual can find people to play a game of soccer or just an overall training
partner.
Nike has been a popular and rather iconic company through their sophisticated and quite
impressive sport products. Their products have been utilized by Olympic players, your everyday
athletes and even the average person. But one of the main reasons why Nike has dominated the
sport attire and shoes aspect of the market is because of their consistently great quality products,
their committed sense of community and their acknowledgement what’s happening to their
customers and consumers. In order for the company to remain consistently relevant in today’s
market, Nike had expanded Nike+ from being a running-centric into a mult -sport ecosystem that
includes Nike+ Basketball, Nike+ Training and the recently launched Nike+ Kinect Training.
Through Nike+, the company has not only increased their sales performance but they had
also created a community of people who are dedicated to a healthier lifestyle. Users of the
application is neither toxic nor derogatory and are rather motivating and inspiring. They do not
bring others down based on their numbers, they help each other improve themselves. Research
put in by the company to be able to indicate what products their customers and consumers need
is a great value that shows that the company cares, they don’t just make products for the sake of
having products in the shelf. They make products because we, the consumers, need them. Nike
has fully understood and properly utilized the value of community, consistency and social
awareness all of which help grow their company and their potential customer range.
The new application allowed users to maintain an active lifestyle through a great variety
of both individual workouts and multi-week training programs. Nike’s gamification of exercising
and staying psychically healthy has built a community all while increasing consumer
engagement. Furthermore, Nike+ is an application that tracks your activity progress through
accessible means such as a smart watch or a smart phone as long as the application is installed in
the device. It stores the information each time you run so you can screen your advancement.
Providing the users with a variety of exercise plans already laid out and ready to try which
furthers the stimulate a user’s want to maintain an active lifestyle. Engagement between users of
the application create this motivational competition on who can be the strongest, the fastest and
the fittest. Leaderboards and top scores do not scare nor intimidate a new user but rather
encourage them to reach their limit and push through. They have utilized gamification to make a
network based around physical activity and friendly competition. Nike+ has made an amazing
network where the physical wellbeing of an individual is praised and empowered.
The Nike+ application expansion would be a great benefit sales-wise because of the
executed gamification of their marketing blend. Consequently, help Nike secure a controlled
portion of the running shoe market. Based on my research, in 2006 alone Nike has controlled
over 47% of the running shoe market and had dispatched Nike+ in the same year. The following
year, they had controlled 57% of the market, and 61% in 2009. Nike has had a controlled
segment of the running shoe market from that point onward. In 2007 there were 500,000 Nike+
user and by 2013, there were 11,000,000 Nike+ users. More customers using the app, the more
people exercising and using sports attires which then results in a surplus of customers and
consumers of Nike products. Furthermore, users of the apps are subconsciously brand
ambassadors as they are using the app and most often using the products of Nike as well. With
this Nike has increased their sale performance not only from avid consumers of their products
but through potential customers influenced by the unconsciously brand ambassadors.
It is within my own belief that the applications do indeed reinforce the relationship
between Nike and its customers as it create a bridge for them to achieve a common goal all while
being able to achieve their own personal goals. Nike is company built on maintaining a healthy
and active lifestyle; there are a vast majority of individuals who wish to maintain the same
lifestyle. Now when Nike created Nike+, they had made not only an applications for customers
to keep track of their activities but a means of creating something better than a high-quality
product, they had created a community centered around the goal of the company. Among all the
solutions that Nike had previously used to stay relevant, they could not compare to the mass
impact and effectiveness that Nike+ has had on the market and the profits of Nike.
