NIKE:

Client: Nike

Challenge: Cultural Strategy, Design Strategy

My role: Cultural Strategist

Agency: Cassandra

September 2018

New York, New York 

NIKE: INNOVATING the 2020 Product platform  

Challenge 

With the advancing momentum of competitors like Vans, Adidas, and Supreme, Nike sought avenues to innovate its design strategy for the 2020 product launch. To do so, Nike hired Cassandra to examine the new meaning of innovation - the core equity of its brand. 

My role: I was the lead strategist on the project. My job was to be a big picture thinker, and I wrote a report outlining a strategy to connect with the Asian-American cohort.

Better is better than the best 

The old meaning of innovation was about technology, but the new meaning was shaped in tandem with the betterment revolution. From physical health to emotional wellness to living one’s best life, innovation is now about improving the person. So for Nike, it is not about selling the best shoes - it is about using their sportswear technology to empower people to be better. During the research stage, we found that “Better is better than the best” is an emerging central narrative of innovation. To bring this concept back to the design teams, we centered the exploration of fashion in the context of betterment. 

Social listening + qualitative tools = insight-ready data and observations 

To arrive at this idea, we married social listening and traditional qualitative tools. Through social media analysis, we establish the context of the conversation around innovations. We turned to the community of trendsetters to get definitions of three cultural concepts. Youth spoke, and we learned: youth turn to fashion to express who they are, so that they can be on the outside the way they feel inside. One of the community trendsetters summed it up best, “I want to live a life of my own. I want to stay myself, live according to my values and dreams. And I always want to progress, to become better in everything I do.” Ultimately Nike’s big question has become: how might Nike help people to be better? 

Insights playground: Nike 2.0 - a better version 

To be better, one has to know who they are right now, where they want to go, and how they can get there. So The immersive workshop session was focused on addressing these three questions when it comes to betterment. For Nike’s strategy, these three questions were: 

• What if Nike champions the idea of self-expression?

• What if Nike re-imagines its performance footwear?

• What if Nike focuses on the multi-functionality of its products?

Each of these areas were explored with a panel of trendsetters, and addressed through blitz-innovation games, along with cultural examples to exemplify how other disruptor brands engage these conversations. The project was an amazing success, because a year and a half later, an amazing 2020 collection was released to the world.

The results 

The Nike 2020 product line is here to stay, and is reshaping the market rules for all. It is a powerful combination of: 

• The values of the sustainability movement - Space Hippy Shoes are made out of Nike’s post-manufacturing junk - endless scrap material from its factories. 

• Hyper-performance: Nike Zoom BB NXT is the next big thing in basketball shoes - it accelerates energy return to raise athletes’ performance ceilings.

• Multi-functionality - Nike’s Move to Zero Collection is a capsule wardrobe that works on the court, and off.
  

Nike’s approach to innovation is iconic. It is not about reinventing the wheel - it is about going back to one’s roots and reorienting those founding principles to face the future. Redefining the meaning of innovations for Nike was a powerful example of how a brand can stay true to its core, yet reinvent itself in a new way.