CONNECTIONS THROUGH SPORTS
Athletes, more connected than ever, are expecting brands not just to deliver quality, but to resonate with them on and off the field. Identifying with a brand is more about creating memorable experiences that engage people, and athletes, at every touchpoint. For companies that specialize in athletic gear and/or footwear, this means reconsidering the ways they interact with the athlete before, during, and after their product purchase.
DESIGN BRIEF
Choose a sport-centric brand to work with and create a presentation that shares your new idea of how to connect athletes to the products they wear to win, and to the larger public through a memorable experience, engagement activity, or another method.
- For best results, choose a segment of the audience your company creates products for, i.e. kids, parents who influence kids, adults, professional athletes, coaches, college athletes, amateur athletes, etc.
- Conduct research about how they connect sponsored athletes to their brand and the products those athletes choose to wear and promote.
- Explore the associated experiences around and beyond the products an athlete chooses.
- In the past year, some companies made the decision to sell directly through teams, instead of through distributors. This has allowed more connections between the company and athlete/end-user. How can your chosen company continue to bridge the gaps between digital and physical experiences?
- Create a holistic concept that infuses an engaging and thoughtful story around the athlete and product that shows your new ideas about how to connect athletes to both the digital and physical experiences with their product and the public.
PATHWAYS OF EXPLORATION (these are simply suggestions- you can choose anything; we suggest you focus on one Pathway):
- Product Purchase Experience – In-store, mobile/online store, rogue/grassroots events, digital integration; How to make retailers better advocates, etc.
- Product Launch Strategy – New and interesting ways to disrupt the industry and maximize impact for our product launches moving forward.
- Customization Journey – We think the future of athletic sporting goods may very well be centered around the performance benefits of the ‘perfect fit’. How and where is this achieved? At home? In a store? How quickly can we turn around a custom product through thoughtful innovations in manufacturing and distribution?
- Athlete Engagement – How the athlete interacts with the brand before, during and after product purchase.
GENERAL RESEARCH
Do some research into one or more of the categories below to discover your own ideas for making connections between athletes, the brand, and the public. We recommend doing thorough research in one or two different categories- but you can focus on all of them if you wish:
- Social and Technology Trends Relevant to the Sport
- Primary Brands & Competing Companies
- Current Product Trends
- Current Sales Strategies
Keep in mind the various channels that are used to present a brand:
- eCommerce (Website)
- Brick & Mortar Retail
- Off-site Events (Local, Regional, National or Global Tournaments, exhibition games, etc.)
- Direct Team Sales
DELIVERABLES
Create an impactful, emotional story that outlines your idea. Your solution should be your original ideas presented in any, or all, of the following formats. Don’t forget that to complete our portfolio requirement you must submit a total of 8-12 pieces, so you can submit these along with other work if you need to.
Mission Statement – a brief 3-5 sentences about the solution you have developed
Inspiration Board – a visual representation of the images, video, etc. that have influenced your thinking, inspired your solutions, and that show a look/feel/existing solution that you would like to emulate in your own project.
Storyboard – a visual representation of your final solution; include ideation sketches, or representations of your idea, it’s parts, and how they connect in a narrative way
Additional 2-5 Items – choose your format and create 2 additional items to promote the solution i.e. an original song, a video, an event flyer, a presentation, a sketch of an app, etc.
- Idea bubble charts
- Written statements, tag lines
- Social Media posts or campaigns
- Video, sound or image-based commercials or promos
- Images; idea boards, stills, collage – use of found images is fine since this is essentially a proposal of your ideas
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