Two years ago, I saw these shoes in the exhibition section of a Nike pop-up store in London. The material from which they were made is now appearing in commercially available sneakers.
That exhibition made me realise that Nike is as much a technology company as a marketing company. Its a profile they've emphasised through initiatives like NikeID where technology is used to assist and enliven training regimes.
Next week, it will be taking a stage further here with Nike Grid when people will claim their own postcode/zipcode by running between specially adapted public telephone boxes. GPS iterations utilising apps like Foursquare are surely not far behind.
Running, their original raison d'etre, remains at the heart of all this, but layered upon it is the technology - another level of interestingness that draws you further into the DNA of the business. Making marketing interesting (while reminding them of the unique expertise that creates the products) engages the user intellectually, emotionally and socially. Every business could and should be doing it.
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