When you think of basketball, you will think of Nike and NBA. Starting this 2017-2018 season, NBA has signed a new deal with Nike. Nike and NBA were already essentially connected with 75% of the league wearing its shoe, and it also reps the majority of the major players such as: Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook (Alsher, 2015). Thus, creating an official partnership will benefit each greatly in both increased in distribution and international awareness.
NIKExNBA is ushering in a radical evolution of the fan experience by introducing the Nike NBA Connected Jersey. Nike NBA Connected Jersey is the first NFC built in jersey that gives wearer an all access pass into their world of their favourite team and player.
The new uniform is comprised of a combination of Alpha Yarns and recycled polyesters, each jersey represents approximately 20 recycled PET bottles (NBA, 2017), which matches Nike’s broad commitment to sustainability and “Nike Better World” ethos. Owners of the digitally enhanced garments have access to exclusive content and rewards, such as real time scores and statistics, behind the scenes footage of the team’s locker rooms, Spotify playlists curated by NBA players, and the chance to win tickets to selected games such as the Christmas Game between the Cavaliers and the Warriors that we all anticipate by simply tapping our phones against the jersey.
Nike is creating something more than just a jersey, more than just a uniform, it is the gateway to being connected between players, fans, and the game we love. Not only does it let you engage your favourite athletes and teams, but also rewards you every day which creates a customer relationship.
Nike acknowledges that the way to gain a competitive advantage over the market is to listen and understand their customers’ wants, and they succeeded. We all know that NFC is a very simple technology that is very familiar to us, we use it in ApplePay or MetroCards. However, Nike leveraged it to be use in a very powerful way. Creating the additional value that people seek for, redesigning how people view sports and setting new standards for its competitors.
Choosing recycled PET bottles as the material to produce their Connected Jersey shows that Nike is really committed to support sustainability, a “Better World”. Not merely just providing a great ethos without implementing it. Maintaining a support for the environment sustainability also provides the opportunity to build trust with the customers that are looking for products that align with their environment friendly values. Overall I think the breakthrough made by Nike is one of the prominent move in the sport industry that combines the innovation in technology to invite fans, customers, to be part of the organization as a whole.
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Sources:
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