Nike Just Did It (And Why Your Brand Should, Too)

Early AI adopters such as Nike made news with a campaign in which personalized videos were sent to the mobile devices of 100,000 subscribers (in addition to broader activities promoted through social media). The core components of the campaign are more relevant today—and just like Amazon should be emulated by retailers, media companies could likewise take a few pages from Nike’s playbook in leveraging technology to build, retain, and empower fans.

Here’s what Nike Did:

Form a tribe

Free enrollment with benefits, wearable fitness tech, and mobile app formed a highly effective combination that inspired consumers to join and then share personal information to be part of a greater community. Only one of the three components required significant budget.

Gather data

Personalization of this video content was only possible because each customer’s wearable and app data was tracked, compiled, and analyzed properly. Nike relied on quality, first-person data that was generated, managed effectively, and harvested directly from members with no reliance on third-party insights.

Make it personal (and social)

The campaign could have stopped with a generic vi deo quoting cumulative stats to promote the brand. Instead content was personalized with both an individualized year in review and a challenge to improve on performance over the next year—while encouraging other members to do the same via social sharing.

There’s no excuse for hesitation to embrace artificial intelligence because Nike and other household brands have already gone first and proven it works. Personalized experiences are now table stakes for relevance, and AI is more human today than brand managers might think.

Nike didn’t leave mobilizing its fanbase to chance in favor of selling more apparel. By forming and executing a personalized, AI-driven strategy the company ensured a highly successful campaign that created more fans, free word-of-mouth marketing, and more sales in the process.

To read how SoftServe helps our clients form greater personalization strategies, read our latest whitepaper, “Why Today’s Brands Need Fanatics, Not Loyalists”.