NikeID
NIKEiD is a service provided by Nike allowing customers to personalize and design their own Nike merchandise. They offer online services as well as physical NIKEiD studios in different countries around the world, including: United Kingdom, Italy, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, China, USA, Canada and Australia.
Description
NIKEiD is a service provided by Nike allowing customers to customize clothing purchased from Nike. The customer becomes the designer as they change and add a personal look and feel to a selected item. The service can be accessed both online from their homepage and in physical branches (called NIKEiD Studios) which are situated in parts of Canada, France, England, Main Land Europe, China and the USA. In total, NIKEiD has 102 studios where customer can access the customization design service.
The service was launched initially in 2012 and could only be accessed through their website. It provided customers the ability to choose from a limited range of different material and colors to develop their own style of tennis shoe. This initial launch allowed customers to customize Nike's Air Force One shoe. It gave a total of 31 different customizable parts including the base, overlay, accent, lining, stitching, outsole, laces and deubré. In total this shoe gave a choice of 82 different materials and option types. It has since expanded from a small web-based service to a large array of stores and new software applications to give customers a greater range of personalization and uniqueness in a variety of Nike shoes and clothing.
Products
NIKEiD mainly focuses on footwear, providing a selection of shoes which can then be personalized by the customer. The customer can choose which area of the shoe to personalize, changing the color and fabric to what they desire. This customization allows for a large amount of different designs to be created. And, if the customer does not want to have to design the shoes themselves, they can choose from a range of pre-made designs or buy designs other customers have made.
As NIKEiD has developed they have changed from just personalized footwear to other items of sportswear. This is currently only available on their website, with the NIKEiD studios focused on footwear.
Shoes
The shoes NIKEiD offers customization over are listed in a range of sub-categories these include: Football, Baseball, Running, Rugby, Basketball, Athletic Training, Skateboarding, and Nike Sportswear. NIKEiD is constantly updating the collection of shoes that they offer for customization. Nike's best franchises are also represented including Air Max, Air Force 1, Nike Free, Nike LunarGlid Nike Dunk. NIKEiD has also recently begun offering the signature styles from such athletes as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
Service
Online
The starting point of the company was the online store which has changed frequently over the years from its initial 1999 launch. In 2005 R/GA was given the task to redesign the website to give it "a premium, e-commerce experience". The original HTML site was replaced entirely by a new Flash based website claimed to give it a more user-friendly experience and stylish look. The ability to save designs using the myLocker account, on the NIKEiD website, has sparked many bloggers and designers to show off their designs.[1]
In Store
The NIKEiD studios are intended to give the customer an even greater personal experience. The studios have professionally trained designers within for customers to work with. Inside the studios there is a greater range of colours, materials and shoes to pick from.[2][3]
iPhone App
On 14 October 2012 the NIKEiD App for iPhone and iPod Touch was released on the iTunes App Store. The App is free to download and allows users to search products created by the NIKEiD community and purchase items from the online store. The iD Studio Finder allows the user to find out exactly where the NIKEiD Studios are located, and how to book an appointment with a design consultant. Users could also save their designs to their myLocker accounts. The app has sense been discontinued and replaced with a Mobile Builder engineered to allow for full customization from any modern mobile device running either the iOS or Android operating system.[4]
Nike PHOTOiD
By taking a picture with their mobile a consumer can send an image to Nike where newly designed software will then analyze the picture for its two main colors and then go about designing a shoe based on it. The consumer will then receive reply with an image of their desired shoe. From this stage they can either save the image, send it to someone else or even purchase the new design.[5]
NIKEiD Events
Campaigns
NIKEiD launch a billboard campaign coinciding with the re-launch of the NIKEiD website. The Reuters sign in Times Square and offered passersby the option to use their phones to customize a pair of shoes. Once the user has then customized the pair of shoes they receive a text with a wallpaper of the shoe and thjen given the option to purchase their customized shoe.[6]
Celebrity Designs
NIKEiD has invited celebrities such as Amani Toomer and DJ Clark Kent to go into the NIKEiD bespoke workshop, situated in 21 Mercer Street, New York and design their own shoe.
Nike Air Troupe Design Battle
When Nike launched a brand new shoe specifically designed for hip hop dancers. This campaign was designed to promote both NIKEiD and the new shoe. It allowed users to customize their own Nike Air Troupe shoe and then to submit their design into a competition against other designers. Designs would go through rounds of voting until the best designs were chosen, and winners could win various prizes. The competition ended on April 16, 2009.[7]
Similar Services
Other clothing brands offer bespoke clothing for customers also. Vans for example offer a similar customized shoe experience for customers. It recently added bookbags, and hats along with shoes. Adidas offer a bespoke service called mi adidas allowing customized shoe features for customers. Reebok too offer a service called Your Reebok. Converse, a Nike company, offers the Converse Create service, which runs on an adapted version of the NIKEiD software. Franklin Sports offers custom batting gloves.
References
- ^ "R/GA NIKEiD". R/GA. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
- ^ "Sneakers for all occasions". Financial Times. November 10, 2007. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- ^ "NIKEiD London Studio Opens Tonight". Creative Review. November 1, 2007. Retrieved 2009-11-20.
- ^ "NIKEiD App for iPhone and iPod touch". Hypebeast. October 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
- ^ "Nike PHOTOiD trainer customisation launches". Pocket-lint. June 16, 2008. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
- ^ "Nike iD Billboard Invites Mobile Users". Clickz. May 3, 2005. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- ^ "Nike Troupe Battle: Design Your Own Hip-Hop Shoe; Do Battle; Repeat". Rick Mathieson. March 26, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-10.