Nike's Fuel Band - A Success Story

Recently in my Advertising class we discussed what it meant to be creative and how to come up with big ideas for companies looking to tackle a new advertising objectives.  I couldn't help but think about one the best (in my opinoin) marketing companies in the world in Nike, and their evolution and implementation of their Nike Fuel Band commercials.  I know from the beginning Nike kinda of played a guerilla marketing side and let the customer base try it and spread their experiences with friends and let it take off.  However recently I have seen some Nike Fuel Band commercials, like the one I have posted below, and I really think they did a great job of coming up with a big idea that tackles all the elements my Advertising professor discussed.

First off here is the commercial:

 



 

Okay, so what did you think?  Pretty smart right?  Kind of cool, really upbeat, kinda sends a message right?  At least I thought so.  Well lets take a look at some of the things brought up by my professor that she believes a big idea must contain. 

 

 

First--keep it simple.  Yes, this idea was simple as pie.  "Life is a sport, make it count."  This idea ties directly into their product with the fuel band because you are supposed to wear it as an every day thing to monitor your exercise.  Next, my professor talked about when creeating big ideas to remember to be truthful tot he company and stay branded to the company.  In my opinion, this idea stay true to Nike's brand.  It goes without saying that when people think about Nike they think about sports, and Nike wants to make life a sport with their Fuel Band product.  They are trying to make every day activities count as exercise.  I think when Nike's executives were working on this campaign they thought about what is the truth about Nike and they uncovered that people want to work out everyday and stay healthy but aren't sure of what counts as excerise then Nike comes in and says, "You know what, taking the steps instead of the elevator counts as excersise.  Life is a sport so make it count.  Don't wasting it."

 

I think this ad is branded at the core of Nike and the Nike FuelBand product in that it revolves around exercising daily and making life count with exercise.  They also cleary tied the commercial in with pop culture which made it entertaining and attention grabbing.  I also think the execution was properly executed to ignite conversations among prospective customers.  I think not only the commercial will ignite and create popularity for the product, but the Fuel Band itself will spark conversations as well because of the involvement it has on people's every day life. 

 

Overall, I think Nike did and excellent job at being creative coming up with a big idea that was branded at the core of Nike, was attention grabbing, and convincingly executed the core message of "life is a sport, make it count."