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If 2008 was the Year of the Widget, 2009 will be the Year of Rebranding the Widget. In this case we're talking about Adidas TV. My first thought was that Adidas was merely skinning their Youtube videos which is a fairly common but stale tactic. It turns out they've created a cagey little gadget that you can put on your web pages (Facebook, Blogger, et al.), send via email, and upload to your mobile phone. But why take my word for it? Scroll down and you'll see a sample install of it on the right rail.
The install took all of :30 seconds, and resizing it is simple if you know even a thimble-full of javascript. People who say Social Media isn't trackable completely miss one point, which is that Social Media apps are just part of a larger initiative and that larger initiative always includes some kind of tracking mechanism. The 'rising tide floats all boats' theory in action. In this case they've done a great job and created a nice little add-on for people who want to spice up their pages with some video without any fuss.
Sorry, most of you are probably at the bar already, I didn't get to post the numbers this morning. So without further ado...here's your Friday diversion. We're celebrating February only having 28 days (I'll drink to that) and that means spring is around the corner.
- At Age 28, Adam Dunn has more home runs, runs, and walks than Reggie Jackson, Darryl Strawberry, Jose Canseco and Harmon Killebrew all did at the same age.
- Legendary basketball coach Pat Summitt has averaged 28 victories a year for 35+ years...and a typical NCAA women's basketball season is about 35 games. Over the last four seasons the New York Knicks have averaged just 28 victories per year out of a possible 82.
- Pitcher Tim Wakefield has 164 victories in a Red Sox uniform, leaving him 28 short of the two club record holders: legends Cy Young and Roger Clemens.
- Darrell Greene, a Washington Redskins Hall-of-Famer, was a first round pick by Washington, in 1983. He was the 28th overall pick. He also wore the jersey number 28.
- Legendary basketball coach Dean Smith was born on February 28th, 1931.
- Last year Amateur UK horse jockey Anthony Knott won his first ever race. It took him 28 years to do it.
- There were a total of 28 sports at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
See you in March!
In a surprise that can only be called serendipitous, I found a sweet email from Adidas in my inbox two nights ago announcing the launch of mi adidas (clever wordplay there), a site for customizing one-off sets of shoes... straight on the heels of my NIKEiD post a day earlier. I love my Adidas shoes, but there can only be one 'smartest kid in the online class' and we're reserving that for Nike at the moment. Here's why:
1. Interface. While mi adidas is certainly navigable, its got the plot a bit wrong. I want to choose my colors and know my options straight away. I dont want to be asked my gender / shoe size / shoe width first. That's what happened when mom took me to the store right before school was back in session. I'm going to assume you can figure out a way to make these shoes for me regardless of those details. While Adidas sports a more classic and clean interface, certain UI options were overlooked as well: it's great to show me the timeless Stan Smith on the homepage and let me customize it, but let me select it right there. I want to do the customizing without being required to jump through several categories to get there. (eds note: tried this on Safari and Firefox for Mac; perhaps it is clickable via Internet Explorer but I can't verify that.)
2. Urgency. Nike are the masters of imploring you to get on with the matter. Just Do It, right? The contest is always the context-- the Royale32 tournament, or the Euro2008 ID soccer campaign-- giving you the impression that time is limited. Those contests are satellites of the main NIKEiD site to be sure, but even hitting the iD site through your generic login, you'll see terms such as 'Spring Collection' and a display presentation like you'd find at the local boutique. Translation: you're out shoe shopping, be impulsive, have some fun. If you're not feeling it yet, maybe you oughtta click on the Nike Sportswear Music widget in the corner (yep, you can buy the music you're listening to via itunes or visit the artist's site).
So while I'll applaud mi adidas for the efforts so far, I'd say its a bit more like shopping for shoes at the suburban mall, while NikeiD is hangin' somewhere in fashionable mid-town.
Nike iD and the Nike iD Studio are all about specialization; a brilliant concept to involve customers in unique "one-offs" if you will. I've never really believed Nike makes a ton of money off the iD concept, but it plays well with the younger crowd and keeps them true to their street roots.
So what better way to play up those roots than an old-school East vs. West throwdown. Enter NIKEiD Royale 32, a design contest where people are required to create their entries at the NYC Mercer location or the LA Montalban location, and voting occurs online. 32 contenders, 4 weeks, and one winner. Very cool, and painless... vote and get on with it. Purchase your choice if you want. No hassle, no commitment. Nicely executed, with the one exception...Nike are masters of the Inbox but terribly frustrating for passing links along to friends or mining for yourself. Meaning, you'll get something cool via email and Nike will dial you in straight away, but good look stumbling along through their site(s) and finding the unexpected treasure.
You thought you had problems packing up your kids for a trip to Florida, eh? Then pity the crews of an F1 team like Williams who have to deal with "packing day". I suspect this time of year poses unique problems such as: no race adrenaline, routines not entirely established or executed comfortably, and so much at stake in the testing process. Especially this year as the testing rules have changed so much. I dug up this video from the AutomotiveTV channel on moving an F1 team around the globe. (side note: if you're not subscribed to AutomotiveTV, you should be.)
A tidy and interesting interview with Perry Cooper, senior VP of digital and direct marketing for the NHL can be found in the recent issue of Deliver® magazine. It's a great reminder in this day and age when Direct Mail is yawned at (at best) or (worse) sneered at, the NHL has shown that it's all about the touch points...reminding your customers of your offerings in the right way without bombing them with offers. In this instance, the direct mail is a targeted outreach in tactile fashion, something often lost in today's "receive-process-delete" society.
Down the road a piece from the Indians new facility lies Camelback Ranch, the new home of the Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. Facility sharing is nothing new and occasionally makes for strange bedfellows-- the Indians will welcome their intra-state rivals from Cincinnati as facility partners in Goodyear soon.While the desert browns and assimilation into nature are both on display in Camelback and Goodyear, Camelback is taking aim straight at the holiday crowd with lakes, walking paths and more. Even the CR website says its "a campus rather than a complex...a park rather than a facility." When you've got 140 acres and budget that isn't endless, the choice becomes clear: develop the property or develop the stadium. And while the main stadium does not appear to be lacking, it's clearly only part of the experience promised by the CR proprietors. How else to explain the music bandstand and the orange grove? (Nice tip of the cap to the original Dodgertown in Vero Beach). 'The Ranch' will also host concerts and corporate outings when baseball is not in session.
If you plan on going, the Chicago Tribune has some helpful hints and potential warnings.
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