Nike Plus gives A+ performance at the Cannes Lions Festival

''Change running forever.'' -Nike

Stefan Olander of Nike gave a fantastic presentation on the Nike Plus running shoes and transmitter.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this technology, it is a two-piece transmitter where one end goes into the sole of your specially made Nike Free shoe and the other end goes into the bottom of your iPod, where the charger/usb cable would normally go.

Once you are plugged in, you can listen to your own playlists while a pleasant voice lets you know how far you've run, how much further you have to go, and how fast you are running.  The technology is seamless, affordable (about $100 for the shoes and transmitters), and as Stefan put it, ''addictive.''

Nike has created an entire consumer culture with the Plus technology.  Runners can log onto the Nike site to blog about their runs, give tips, talk about their favorite running spots, and look at the leaderboards to see who has the fastest time's in their respective area(s).

So why was Nike so successful with this product?  There are a couple reasons:

First, Nike hit the three C's (Content, Commerce, Community) perfectly.  They created an entire culture around this product.  Runner's are a very rare breed of consumer.  They are passionate, critical, and knowledgable about their sport.  Simply put, there is no fooling them.  Nike knows the runner just as well as anybody else.  Their company was founded on running decades ago when Steve Prefontaine was in the scene.  Due to this knowledge, Nike was able to cater to the running community without fail; blogs were set up, maps were posted, and unique songs were created and available for download on the iTunes webstore.  Runners were instantly sold on this.  They could tell that Nike was just as serious about their sport as they were and they would not quit until they satisfied them.

Within weeks, runners were online uploading their running times, challenging friends to races via the special email forwarding system, and downloading songs of iTunes (The Rocky theme ''Eye of The Tiger" being the most popular).

To date, over 30,000,000 (yes, you read right) km's have been ran by Nike Plus users and that number is growing by the second.

Have you been wanting to get back into running but can't quite find that special 'push' needed to get you back on track?  Then check out Nike Plus and watch as your life is changed forever.

Click here to see the latest Nike Plus commercial!

Mike

Comments

[Nike SB]

You guys should checkout the shoes that came out from Nike with Ipod applications. Nike and Apple coming together is a perfect combination and if this can motivate a healthier lifestyle than more power to them.

[Brandon Matthew]

Wow... Nike+ is a running shoe that has a sensor embedded in its sole that transmits information to Apple’s iPod Nano music player, such as how many calories you’ve burned.