Exercise gadgetry seems to be all the rage this season, with products like the Jawbone UP and MotoACTV entering the marketplace hot on the heels of adidas miCoach and its F50 Speed Cell tracking systems.
Nike, one of the trend setters in this space with its revolutionary Nike + initiative, is determined not to be left behind and has today announced a new wristband called the FuelBand.
Designed for anyone who wants to be more active, its tracking technologies enable users to set their goals and then go out and achieve them – or better still, beat them.
Not unlike its competitors, the FuelBand measures time, steps and calories during your fitness routine. It measures something called NikeFuel — a measurement of your wrist movement.
As you accomplish each goal, the FuelBand’s LED lights turns from red to yellow to green. By providing this simple meter, the wearer can check their activity status with a mere glimpse. For more detailed queries the band’s display can toggle between time, distance, calories burned and Fuel.
By creating a normalized metric, Nike hopes to make collaboration and competition among users of different athletic levels more fun.
FuelBand ambassador Lance Armstrong explains: “The way we spend our time is important” and raises a valuable point in that for competitive athletes, rest is also a very necessary part of training.
While not the primary focus of the band, it does allow you to see days you spent recovering, and the lack of Fuel burned is actually a symbol of allowing the body to recuperate. This also touches upon on one of Olander’s insightful declarations: “You can’t improve what you can’t measure.”
Nike claims that the more you move, the more NikeFuel you earn and this product/service/community hybrid’s promotion is running under the tagline ‘Life Is A Sport. Make It Count’,
The FuelBand can either sync to your PC through a USB connection or via Bluetooth to an iPhone app. From there you can keep all your stats in one place and set goals for yourself.
The FuelBand is available for order directly from the brand and retails at $149.
Nike is stepping up its Olympics marketing efforts with a new wristband and related app allowing people to record their physical activity and share the information with friends on social networks.
The product is part of a broader campaign in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics to build a sporting community around the brand.
The idea of setting personal training goals backs up Nike’s New Year ‘Make It Count’ campaign which was launched in early January and urged people to make individual pledges for the year on Twitter.
This is its first major marketing salvo in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic Games (of which its great rival adidas is the official partner).
Comment:
It will be interesting to see how Nike expands its FuelBand based initiative as we close in on London 2012 and its forms a fulcrum for its Olympic ambush work.
And also how it progresses in relation to adidas existing miCoach digital training programme.
It seems an on-trend strategy, as new technology developments and data analysis programmes mean that anyone can easily track every aspect of their existence to create a personalized numerical evaluation—a quantified self.
Psychology does seem to show that, in general, people are motivated by having data—it’s just how you collect, view and use that information that makes all the difference
Links:
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.