Why Nike will win the battle of personal data devices.
Nike’s FuelBand locks together three of the biggest gamechangers in product development today - gamification, socialisation and personal data - but adds one killer refinement that will make it stand out from the market.
FuelBand heralds the advent of the Quantified Self into the mainstream. For years athletes and the keener ones amongst us have used personal data to improve their regimes. From pedometers to Polar chestbands and watches that allow you to monitor and maintain your optimal heart rate, accessing personal data has played a key role in fitness. But pedometers and heartrate monitors deliver only one dataset each. Recent fitness accessories have started to deliver a lot more wellbeing information that doesn’t just focus on exercise. Jawbone’s UP will measure your sleep activity and let you track what you eat. (Though product flaws from its inability to wirelessly communicate with the app, through to bricking have stifled sales.) Meanwhile Nicholas Felton’s annual reports, which started in 2005, signposted an interest in personal data stretching beyond exercise oriented data (subsequently inspiring Facebook to employ Felton leading to the development of Timeline). People love to discover their personal data.
Add gamification to personal data, and exercise becomes more compelling. FuelBand users can set targets to beat and earn awards for activities a la Foursquare. (Cyclists should take note of the Strava Cycling app to earn similar rewards.) But setting targets for yourself is not nearly as compelling as competing with friends. This third tier of socialisation is really where FuelBand will succeed. As Opower’s comparative utility bills have shown, and behavioural scientists/economists have argued for some time, social competition is a big incentive to changing habits. Nike has integrated this social element heavily into FuelBand.
But Nike’s real victory comes not in folding together data, social and gaming, but the addition of one killer refinement…
FuelBand will let you count steps and calories, but more importantly, it simplifies and refines your data into an overarching score. This means that, unlike the original Nike+ which limits users to running, converting movement into one score to rule them all means users can compete against friends despite taking part in different activities. It’s not about number of steps or calories burned; you don’t need to run quicker or further than your friends; you just need to beat their score via any activity that gets you moving. By refining data to a simple cross-sport score Nike’s message “Life is a sport” truly comes to life. This refinement is where Nike will win.
—- Whereas this message was best delivered via an award-winning advert ten years ago, Nike has evolved to deliver the same message via hardware and software. Kudos.
The same message today.
