In an industry dominated by pro sponsorships and celebrity endorsements, Adidas is opening up a second front to reach its millennial customers, innovating ways to engage on sustainability and other topics beyond the confines of functionality and fashion.
“We’re lucky to have a Futures Team that’s focused on professional athletics, and how to improve performance,” said James Carnes, VP Global Brand Strategy at Adidas. “So we’re interested in understanding the needs of all the other people who participate in sports.”
“Working with pros is incredibly different than working with the NCAA, and when you get to the high school or pickup adult game level, it gets even more interesting.”
Last March, Adidas kicked off a strategy, called Open Source, to bring such insights into its development fold. Many of the activities had been underway for years, but the program codified three broad activities as a part of its business plan and culture.
“First, our creative approach isn’t to collaborate to bring incremental improvements, but to look at the consumer and identify what’s missing in their experiences that we can provide,” Carnes explained.
The company has opened eight facilities, called RunBases, where consumers can play sports and engage with experts (in Berlin, Boston London, Moscow, Prague, Sao Paulo, Scandinavia, and Tokyo), and is looking to expand the network.

from Forbes – Tech http://ift.tt/1nO47ir
via IFTTT