How Nike built a community experience to deliver its brand strategy

A great community experience can be a tough thing for a brand to pull off. Too often brands consider community as a bolt on, because they know they may need ‘something’ to engage their audience. The result is often a third party addition to their ecosystem to deliver some community features. This will always fail to deliver the type of engagement that the brand is looking for, and will often be disconnected from the brand strategy. Nike has taken a different approach and with Nike run club has developed a community experience that is not only at the heart of the product, but also directly connects to their brand strategy.

Since its launch in 2010 Nike Run Club’s app has established itself as one of the leading apps for runners of all abilities and this is the key to its success. Nike’s mission is to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. *If you have a body, you are an athlete. So it was imperative in developing the Run Club App that the brand built something that worked for all levels, not just those at the top of the sport. Integrating community into this type of experience is an interesting challenge, in most sports people segment themselves based on level and running is no different. But Nike built an experience that integrated community seamlessly, connecting users of different levels.

Nike’s inclusive value proposition for Nike Run Club

When integrating a community into an experience small decisions can have a big impact. For instance is the community competitive and elitist or inspirational and democratic? Defining these up front enables a brand to ensure they create something that delivers on their brand strategy. Nike’s approach was to develop something inclusive but competitive, which in itself is no easy task. But they managed it by ensuring the competition was based on each individuals personal progression. The more you push yourself, no matter your level the more you benefit. Challenges bring users together to push their own running in a way that means the slowest could be top of the leaderboard.

An inclusive but competitive challenge for members to unlock access to a new release

Through the app users can compete against friends or other global members in unique challenges, bringing a wider community together. Other features such as localized training plans help all levels progress at their own pace.

Localized training at your own level through a bolt-on to Nike Run Club

Community can play a substantial part of membership experience. Delivering added value, driving engagement and bringing members together. These strategies can and should be connected to furthering business goals, whether that is a deeper understanding of users or direct product sales. When they embarked upon the development of its digital strategy the then Nike CEO Mark Parker highlighted how central it was to their approach “We are building deep connections to consumers with digital services and communities to driving rapid expansion of our ecommerce business.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Establish a Brand Mission and Vision Statement and Brand Positioning.
Develop a community approach that delivers on your brand strategy.
Establish Membership Principles including Community and use them as a north star for decisions.

GO DEEPER

Join Nike Run Club for free and explore the way they integrate features here .