One of the first lessons of semiotics, a discipline on which the study of communications is vastly based, is the need to understand the reasons behind appearances. Among the many details composing a thing, what is the real meaning of every single piece? How does it contribute to the general significance?

Why this color and not that? Why this word and not this other one? Why this image and not this one? And it is as discouraging (it shatters the pure aesthetic concept) as a useful exercise in terms of “how” -not what- things mean.

While keeping this notion in mind, we can focus on the last idea of the world’s most famous sports brand, Nike.

The latest creation of the brand founded by Bill Bowerman, is called Nike Fuel: a semi-rigid rubber bracelet, with an accelerometer and a luminous display that actually measures any physical activity we do during the day.

Walking, jogging, training, going to the gym are all tasks that recharge our bracelet’s fuel, or our sports fuel. During the day, the display on the bracelet will go from red to green as we move toward the goal we have set. Simple, innit?

The slogan of the campaign is: Life is a sport, make it count. A quite intriguing pun based on the dualism of the verb count as “measure” and count as “worth”. In a second ad, the guys at Nike explain that Nike Fuel is not only dedicated to sporting people, but also to any person who performs any kind of sports activity. Are you walking to the groceries? The bracelet measures it. Are you playing the drums? The bracelet measures it. Are you running to catch the bus to the office? The bracelet measures it.

Potentially, and this is the real marketing idea behind this extraordinary product, the Nike Fuel target tends to infinity. We all move, we all do something, and even if it’s not track and field running also the laziest will have to move the arm to take the zapper.

Nike understood to have stripped the sports market, giving it everything – shoes, sweatshirts, jackets, towels- for any discipline, anywhere in the world, capturing the most influential athletes from Jordan to Messi, from Armstrong to Woods.

From high school to professional teams, from Asia to Canada, from Tennis to Lacrosse, throughout these years Nike has taken everything, facing the biggest dilemma of the winner: ‘what can I do more?’

What is left is to conquer totally the non-sports market. Life is a sport. The strategy is brilliant and daring: to broaden the concept of sport. If life is a sport, we are all athletes, so we all need technical materials.

What is certain is that the spot, the product itself and the promotional campaign are beautifully made with great care, creativity and the emotional impact that only Nike can give in its communication.

The reality is that Nike, like all major international economic players, knows that the only way to keep the number one is to find new market niches. As always, doing it through sport is the most effective solution, because sport at any level is so full of values that is able ​​to shake collective emotions.

In the picture: Nike Fuel + bracelet.
Picture: Courtesy of Nike