I’ve talked a lot on these pages about the opportunity for marketing to move from talking at consumers to providing them with a genuine service. One of the best examples I’ve seen of this is Nike+, a program designed to help runners be runners. The Nike+ program has been around for awhile and something I have a lot of heart for since Renegade helped Nike set up the runners club in New York several years ago.
The New York Times had a great article on this program last Sunday noting why Nike is taking this approach:
“It’s a very different way to connect with consumers,” says Trevor
Edwards, Nike’s corporate vice president for global brand and
category management. “People are coming into it on average three
times a week. So we’re not having to go to them.”
Last year, Nike spent just 33 percent of its $678 million United
States advertising budget on ads with television networks and other
traditional media companies. That’s down from 55 percent 10 years
ago, according to the trade publication Advertising Age.
Behind the shift is a fundamental change in Nike’s view of the role
of advertising. No longer are ads primarily meant to grab a person’s
attention while they’re trying to do something else — like reading
an article. Nike executives say that much of the company’s future
advertising spending will take the form of *services for consumers*,
like workout advice, online communities and local sports competitions.
The article also notes that Nike is not alone in this approach:
…many large marketers are taking huge chunks of money out of their
budgets for traditional media and using the funds to develop new,
more direct interactions with consumers — not only on the Internet,
but also through in-person events.
The Nike+ program is also smart in the way it seamlessly blends physical brand experiences (the runs) with virtual brand experiences (the Nike+ website). Both experiences are important and support the other. Of course, you can not have a running program without physically running so the running clubs are at the heart of its success. This physical interactions also create the opportunity for Nike’s running experts to counsel runners on running and the importance of proper footwear. One dedicated Nike+ participant noted that a Nike counselor really helped her:
At a recent Tuesday night gathering, Linda Martello, 34, an
executive assistant, said she was grateful to Nike. After she
injured one of her calf muscles, she said, a Nike coach helped her
figure out that she was wearing the wrong shoes. (She, of course,
bought a pair of Nikes.)
At the risk of beating you over the head with the idea of Marketing as Service, here’s another quote from a Nike rep on why they are investing their dollars in the Nike+ program:
“We want to find a way to enhance the experience and services,
rather than looking for a way to interrupt people from getting to
where they want to go,” said Stefan Olander, global director for
brand connections at Nike. “How can we provide a service that the
consumer goes, ‘Wow, you really made this easier for me’?”
Right now many CMO’s are about to lose their jobs because they can’t demonstrate ROI. The reason for this is that many CMO’s continue to focus on marketing as messaging and not marketing as service. Messaging is an intangible. Service is tangible. Messaging is a monologue. Service is a conversation or better yet a satisfying *engagement*. Messaging is a one-way ticket to nowhere. Service is a round trip to the Marketing for Good hall of fame.
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