Social Media Brings Nike 'Closer Than Ever'

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Calling the results “remarkable,” Nike Inc. says its fiscal second-quarter revenues climbed 18% to $5.7 billion, from $4.8 billion in the same period last year. Net income rose 3% to $469 million, compared with $457 million in the year-ago period. Sales in North America were particularly strong, up 21%, with double-digit gains in stores and online on Thanksgiving weekend.

The results beat investor expectations, and Nike executives say the strong performance is a result of steady gains in both its basketball and running divisions, as well as its continued digital transformation. “We’re using digital to change everything about the product creation process,” Mark Parker, president/CEO, says in a conference call that was also webcast. Not only has that sped up its manufacturing, beginning with design and moving into factories, it’s also been a game-changer in its marketing approach.

“Social media is helping us unite and expand,” he says. “We have never been closer to our consumers, as they connect more with each other, their heroes and their favorite teams.”

Great to see digital at the center of product creation. 

For all the talk of Social Media being hard to measure Nike is able to come up with some very clear figures. If you're having difficulty measuring the middle but see the end result, do the results still count?

Have a great Christmas everyone!

 

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How you need to stop lying to your customers - selective crowd-sourcing the customer experience

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Your brand lies to consumers. It’s a fact. You show them people they want to be and situations they want to be in. It works, perception makes reality and reality makes perception. But what if the distance between the two is too large? Consumers get uncomfortable, upset, and feel cheated. It's a horrible customer experience. So how do you avoid that?

Ask the right customers for help.

Artofthetrench

Take your customer base and put them to use. Build a story together with them that perpetuates your brand. One of the great examples is Burberry’s “Art of the Trench”. It’s a great place where Burberry curates pictures of customers wearing Burberry – pictures that Burberry believes to signify the character of the brand.

Build a brand with your customer, practice selective crowd-sourcing. Make them part of building the customer experience. Don't go Justin Bieber on this and have the crowd send you to North Korea.

 

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The value of brand authenticity.

Thanks to wearesocial.net I went through the presentation by Izzie Zahorian in one go. A great call for figuring out your brand DNA and authentic, transparent brand communications.

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Humanize your business and grow your sales

A great talk by Peter Merholz over at Adaptive Path. In the Q&A the discussion comes up about creating customer communities. How do you do this?

  • Trust your employees. Remove rules. Hire great people that have the same ideals as your company. They'll do the right thing. 
  • Trust your customers. Make it easier for them to interact and transact with you. Be transparent. Realize that most people are good and won't con your system. The ones that do will pop up soon enough and you can kick those out of your customer base.

Do build an organization of trust?

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