As a late i-phone adopter, I have been furiously trying to get up to speed with the latest apps. Over the long weekend, a friend mentioned that I should try one of his favorites, the Nike Training Club app—the app that Professor Kagan highlighted in our first lecture.
Professor Kagan used this app to highlight how digital marketing can be used for long term relationship building, and that there are different ways to quantify its value aside from a click or a sale. By integrating this app into your daily life and workout regime, Nike is building a lasting brand presence that lasts well beyond the confines of the store or even their online shop. While a typical consumer might only buy a couple pairs of new sneakers a year or work out clothes only periodically, when they do, a familiar brand, a brand that they already have a relationship with may be a good place for them to begin their search.
After two independent recommendations from my peer group, which incidentally demonstrates the power of the network effect used in social media, I decided to download the app and give it a try. It was a free personal trainer after all!
I went outlet shopping the next day and happened to pick up a new Nike sports bra. I had been meaning to pick up a new one and went to a few different stores before settling on the one I purchased at Nike, which was not the usual brand that I favor.
Before taking this class it never would have occurred to me that the app and the unusual brand choice for me were at all inter-related, but after thinking about it a bit more, I am not sure. Was this just a coincidence or are Nike’s digital marketers just that good?
I started thinking about this a lot as well - the idea of a "coincidence" with various purchases. About 3 months ago I clicked on an add for a shoe sale which was on the side of facebook. I wound up clicking around and immediately noticed a pattern in the shoe selection that was being shown to me. It was pretty impressive how close the selection was to a number of shoes I have at home. I then began to wonder why this is? Had I bought form this website before it may have been less strange but it was the first time I visited it. Suddenly I noticed that on the sidebar of EVERY single page I was opening was a similar ad for these shoes. Each ad was for different websites but the shoes remained consistent.
ReplyDeleteI guess its a bit of a chicken and egg question but I began to wonder if the shoes I had (which Id id buy this year) were ones I liked because I had been seeing these ads before buying them, or if I was receiving the ads because I purchased them.
In addition to wondering "what came first" as it were, I became increasingly interested in what Professor Kagen will teach us about what personal information is available about us on the web? What is "tracked" and "tagged" by which websites? It seems the term "smart shopper" has taken on a new meaning online.