Nike+FuelBand free essay sample

The „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" is an activity tracker developed by the Nike Inc. and introduced in the market place on the 22th February of 2012. The „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" is using the Nike+ online community and a phone application. The â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand† is working with a phone application connected via Bluetooth. By doing so, the user of the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand† is able to set his own fitness goals, monitor the progression and compare himselves to the other community user (Wikipedia 2013). The conducted â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand†-campaign has outlined following campaign goals: 1. Increasing Nike+ online community Increasing the engagement of community users 3. Increasing brand awareness and brand loyalty towards Nike 4. Bottom line: increased profit of Nike Inc. achieved via campaign The campaign goals shall be achieved via a combination of operant conditioning and gamification. The American psychologist B. F. Skinner first described the concept of operant conditioning in 1937 (Staddon and Cerutti, 2003). The basis idea of operant conditioning is that after a behaviour, there occurs a reinforcement or a punishment. The choosen strategy either strengthens or weakens the voluntary behaviour. As a result, there is made an association between the voluntary behaviour and a consequence for that particular behaviour (About 2013). Figure 1: Influencing consumer behaviour by operant conditioning (Quester, Pettigrew and Hawkins 2012) Figure 1 depicts the process of operant conditioning. In the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand†-campaign, the stimulus is the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand†. The campaign wants to achieve the consumer’s experience with the FuelBand. This is the desire response. Once this stage is reached and the consumer had a pleasant experience, the probability of repeating the reinforcement behaviour is increased, i.  e. to use the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand†. The last described step describes the reinforcement and the increased probability of response to stimulus. Operant conditioning is alongside of classical conditioning a powerful tool utilised by marketing managers to influence consumer’s behaviour (Quester, Pettigrew and Hawkins, 2012). The â€Å" Nike+ FuelBand†-campaign wants to utilise this described effect implemented in a sportive context. The following section gives a brief overview of the different methods to implement operant conditioning and their effects on consumer’s behaviour. There are four main methods to utilise operant conditioning for influencing consumer’s behaviour: Operation Performed after behaviour Name Effect Present positive consequence Positive reinforcement Increases the probability of behaviour Remove aversive consequences Negative reinforcement Increases the probability of behaviour Neutral consequences occur Positive punishmentExtinction Decreases the probability of behaviour Present aversive consequences Negative PunishmentPunishment Decreases the probability of behaviour Table 1: Operant conditioning of consumer’s behaviour As you can see in table 1, desirable behaviour can be induced by reinforcement, both positive and negative. However, undesirable behaviour can be reduced with both punishment methods (Quester, Pettigrew and Hawkins 2012). Both reinforcement treatments are increasing the likelihood of the behaviour. In the â€Å"positive reinforcement† there are favourable events or outcomes presented after the behaviour, i. e. the behaviour is strengthened by addition of something (About 2013). On the contrary, in the â€Å"negative reinforcement† treatment the behaviour is strengthened by the removal of something considered as unpleasant. On the other side, there are two kinds of â€Å"punishment† methods available. In both cases, the â€Å"punishment† influences the consumer’s behaviour towards a decrease of the behaviour. The â€Å"positive punishment† will introduce an unfavourable event or outcome. The strategy behind that is to weaken the particular behaviour. However, in the â€Å"negative punishment† a favourable event or outcome is removed after the behaviour occurred (About 2013). The marketing strategy of the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand†-campaign concentrates only on the usage of positive reinforcement treatment. The strategy pursues the goal of an increased probability to use the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand† and to engage with the Nike+ online community. Consequently, the campaign must encourage potential consumers to engage in â€Å"that† first trial. Firstly, the campaign must achieve awareness about the new product on the marketplace, e. g. product presentations in shopping centres comparable to the Apple Store experience. Secondly, the campaign will introduce a money-back guarantee to reduce the â€Å"consumer’s fear† of spending money to a â€Å"useless† product. Partial responses lead to the finaldesired response, i. e. purchasing the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand† and using it in the Nike+ online community. This process is known as shaping† (Quester, Pettigrew and Hawkings 2012). Additionally, there are different â€Å"schedules of reinforemcent†. You have to consider this as an important point when implementing your operant conditioning. The reg ularity of reinforcement can have a dramatic impact on the strength and rate of the response. The schedule of reinforcement must be personalised to the particular situations, i. e. the effectiveness of the reinforcement depends on that (About 2013). In general, there are two types of reinforcement schedules; the â€Å"continuous reinforcement† and the â€Å"partial reinforcement† which sub-divides in four different methods. The â€Å"continuous reinforcement† schedule introduces a reinforcer after each single behaviour. This prevents deletion. However, you must invest in a reinforcer after each behaviour. As a rule of thumb, this method is best used during the initial stages of learning. By doing so, the created association between the behaviour and the response will be strong. After establishing the association, the method is usually switched to a „partial reinforcementâ€Å" schedule (About 2013). In a „partial reinforcementâ€Å" schedule the actual reinforcement occurs not after each behaviour, i. e. it occurs only part of the time. You can achieve the â€Å"partial reinforcement† with four different methods. The methods are as follows: 1. Fixed-ratio schedule 2. Variable-ratio schedule 3. Fixed-interval schedule 4. Variable-interval schedule The â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand†-campaign will only use the â€Å"fixed-ratio†- and the â€Å"variable-ratio† schedule. In the „fixed-ratioâ€Å" schedule a reinforcer is only introduced after every n-th behaviour. With that reinforcement schedule you can save investments in your reinforcer. However, it produces a steady and high rate of responding with a short pause after the introduction of the reinforcer (About 2013). In the „variable-ratioâ€Å" schedule, the reinforcer follows a random behaviour. Empirically, this reinforcement plan has a very high resistance to deletion. Like the „fixed-ratio† schedule it creates a high and steady rate of responding (About 2013). The description of your outlined campaign will give detailed information of how we implemented theoperant conditioning. Whereas the operant conditioning is long-known learning process, the â€Å"gamification process† is a new and powerful for influencing and motivating groups of people (Bunchball 2010). The â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand†-campaign incorporates the gamification process. The campaign will use gamification as as a process of integrating game dynamics into the Nike+ online community in order to drive participation and engagement. The aim of the gamification use is to to engage consumers and get them participate, share and interact in some activity. To market the „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" effectively, the campaign considers this technique as necessary to „gamifyâ€Å" the usage of the „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" in order of increased engagement, but also to foster its use to their social network. Table 2 presents the game mechanics which the „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å"-campaign will introduce to fulfil the described human desires. Thereby, the red dots represent the primary desire a particular game mechanic fulfils (Bunchball 2010). Game Mechanics Human Desires Reward Status Achievement Self Expression Competition Altruism Nike+ unit ? ? ? ? ? As well, we had to consider the existing external influences which we have included in our outlined campaign. Internal Influences Perception The „Nike+ Fuelbandâ€Å" is perceived as a new way to measure activity levels through consumers. The band has an impact on its target market through the way they organize and interpret the overall satisfaction of the product. Being a Nike product, people trust the brand to produce a quality product that works and fulfils their needs and wants towards becoming fit. The „Nike+ FuelBand’s sleek physical features include its lightweight,colourful LED lighting, black solid band, and simple design that is easy to wear for everyday use. The band is perceived as a motivational took for Nike customers who already have an active lifestyle or who would like to have an active lifestyle. People associate their experience of the band with staying fit and start to value the product. Only being $149. 00 it is distinguished as a reasonable p riced product for the quality and overall satisfaction you get from using it. Motivation and emotion: Driving Consumer Behaviour One of the motivations for a „FuelBandâ€Å" user is self-improvement motivation where consumers are aimed at changing one’s current state to some level, in this case consumers exercise to improve their health and well-being. Consumers use the „FuelBandâ€Å" as hedonic motivation as a symbol a healthy lifestyle of the consumer. This motivation falls in the self-actualisation form the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Motivation and emotional involvement are closely related, the things that tap our deepest greatest value and evoke strong feelings associated with object and activities related to the FuelBand (Harris). Personal, lifestyle and self-concept Personality helps distinguish consumers based on the specific characteristics that a person exhibits consistently. The personality can be conceptualised as a combination of specific traits or characteristics. For the FuelBand, probably the main traits are self-monitoring and competitiveness. The first as trait represents the tendency for consumers to observe and control behaviour in ways that agree with social cues and influence. High self-monitors are influenced by advertising messages that provide information about how products will affect their image, as is the case of the FuelBand. On the other hand the competitiveness trait is defined as an enduring tendency to strive to be better than others, as an example that consumers are directly competing with others in sports, Internet games and for the FueldBand through the phone application (Harris). The purchase patterns are often influenced by consumer lifestyles, therefore the FuelBand is orientated for people that appeal to the health conscious market. In a recent Australian national Survey showed that 11 million of Australians aged 15 or over participated at least once a week in physical activity forexercise. Demonstrating that Australian culture has about 43% percentage of its population doing physical activities (Trade). As the purpose of the FuelBand is to motivate consumers to be more active, a suggested video advertising could be based on arouse emotions of becoming healthier, monitoring your activities with the use of the band (Harris). Attitude and attitude change Given the Australian personal, lifestyle a nd self-concept, the „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å"-campaign could suggest not to implement an attitude change process. However, 3 out of 5 Australian adults and 1 out of 4 Australian children are overweight or obese (AIHW 2013). The attitude change of the overweight or obesed Australian people will occur in a further step because the current „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å"-campaign will concentrate on the already active and exercising people. External Influences Culture and Culture Values Consumer culture represents the commonly held societal beliefs that define what is socially gratifying with specific society and their consumption. An example of how Australian see themselves is in the following quote from a Cultural Portal about Australia. â€Å"In Australia is a very popular exercise, just as much as going to the shopping centre or doing any sport. The so-called Australian Beach Culture is similar to California, Rio de Janeiro, and the Mediterranean†. Doing outdoor activities and physical activities for Australians is part of the culture values and/or the ideal lifestyle for them. This cultural value provides a well prognostic to market the „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" as it will enhance and promote physical activities. Reference Group Many people have an effect on consumer’s decisions when purchasing products. Aspirational reference groups are those who are easily influenced by the decisions of others. An individual as the basis of their current behaviour uses group’s perspective or values (Quester, Pettigrew and Hawkins 2012). The three major influences of the „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" include informational, normative and identification. Providing expert advice and advice based on experience of using the Nike product influences consumers to buy the product based on others opinions. Some consumers will purchase the FuelBand due to the fact that they want to fulfil group expectations to gain direct reward known as normative influence. Finally, some consumers are more willing to purchase the „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å", as it is a norm within their reference group, based on their internal values of belonging to the group. Reference groups increase as the degree of necessity of an item decreases. Bring a part of the Nike movement, it influences people with positive behaviour with a change in their lifestyle and being more health conscious. Also it provides a positive attraction to the side effects of using the band within a group as each member discusses and competes along side other members, creating a want to associate with the brand and the product. Reference groups provide information, rewards and identity that influence consumer’s purchases, consumptions and communication with products. Social Class Within the „Nike+ communityâ€Å", fitness classifies people ranked not only on their ability, but also their attitude, values, and communication styles to determine their social class structure. The „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" is targeted towards consumers who are in the middle to upper class status as these people are more brand loyal. The middle to upper class makes up 46. 6% of the overall social class. Within these social classes, there is a ranking of members who classify consumers based on status according to their societies. Social classes are groups who share similar values, interests and behaviours that are relatively continuous. The FuelBand has its own subclass within the Nike class that attains to consumers preferences in product satisfaction and targets their audience of fitness lovers. The brand itself holds up a strong reputation and those people who associate or use Nike products establish a reputation. By using communication channels and communication styles we will appeal to our „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" consumers social group. Media Social Media Nike is creating not only sport products but services to keep people engaged and using their products. Through social networks such as Facebook, Nike is able to raise awareness of the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand† and encourage people to share their results with family and friends online. The web is a sea of conversations navigate by search with Nike currently having over 15. 9 million Facebook fans (Statistic). In order to measure the fuel, the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand†-campaign will introduce a number of apps and gadgets to quantify fuel, which can then be shared via Facebook and recorded on the Nike+ website. Using social channels, it is possible to engage in consumer activities by adding value to the FuelBand and amplifying good experiences from consumers. Facebook allows you to track your activity throughout the day, and share your goals and results with others of similar interest. Also, this will engage brand loyal consumers and increase their likelihood to buy from Nike in the future when they are pleased with their results and others are pleased as well. The purchase of a Nike product is not the end of the marketing cycle, but the beginning when Nike can offer a consumer a wide variety of products and services tailored to their individuals needs such as the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand†. Microculture Microcultures are specialised groups within a community (Quester, Pettigrew and Hawkins 2013). Nike has many different communities based on people’s wants, needs and goals they aim to achieve. Consumers are divided into microcultures because of their similar decision making styles and similar needs, such as their desire to get fit or be healthy. Collaborating together by forming smaller groups creates positive team spirit. The „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" has the opportunity for many microcultures through popular fitness activities, such as tennis, running, hockey, rugby, biking, surfing and much more. People form these groups and together work towards achieving personal and group goals, as well as influencing, and providing personal recommendations to others within the group. Connecting with others allows individuals to create advocate programs, increase their performance, and expand their resources of a certain interest. By implementing the „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" it is providing an opportunity to bring others together, and form these sub groups, with the ultimate goal of being physical and healthy. The „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å"-campaign Objective: The campaign is based on positive reinforcement, providing a different stimulus targeting new consumers and increasing engagement of current consumers through the use of the Nike Fuelband. The campaign aims to increase the number of consumers as well as promoting the consumption of all range of Nike products. The campaign includes individual and team challenges, rewards and different level of users with differentiate benefits on each level. The communication channels used for this campaign are, mobile applications, Facebook, personalised emails. Levels Figure 2: â€Å"Nike+ Fuelband† level hierarchy The „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å"-campaign is using the described gamification process. Thus, five levels of users was set up to motivate consumers increase their fitness level (see figure 2), appealing to the self-monitoring and competitiveness traits of the target market in Australia. The use of discriminatory stimuli will positive reinforce users to escalate from one level to the next one. In order to reach the next level users behaviour will have to change, doing more physical activities and using the band to track them down. Recognition of their achievement will be sending in personalised messages to their emails, phone applications and a post on Facebook. The detailed description of the reward system is in Table 3. Our campaign focuses on the positive reinforcement of using the â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand† and all the benefits the band can offer someone. Through challenges, achieving different levels, and attaining an overall Nike + ranking, consumers are motivated to participate in physical activity, join a team, and start a challenge. In doing this, consumers see their progress and are able to track their daily activities and their calories burned during activity. It is an effective and dynamic way that Nike utilises its target market and increases brand awareness. After watching our campaign we hope that it motivates consumers to want to purchase the Nike fuel band as a fun way to keep active by competing, collaborating, and comparing activities with others in the Nike + network. By using the Nike fuel band, you will ultimately get fit like the guys in our campaign. â€Å"Nike+ FuelBand† level Calories Activities Reward Elite 35,000 16-18 receive a personal congratulation message *post facebook message, and name on Nike + stats board Advance 21,00012-16 receive a personal congratulation message *post facebook message, and name on Nike + stats board Athletic 17,500 9-12 receive a personal congratulation message *post facebook message, and name on Nike + stats board Fit 14,000 6-9 receive a personal congratulation message *post facebook message, and name on Nike + stats board Easy Going 10,500 2-4 receive a personal congratulation m essage *post facebook message, and name on Nike + stats board This chart is based on a per week basis * Optional Table 3: „Nike+ FuelBandâ€Å" reward system Internal Influences Psychological Factors Perception: how individuals select, organize and interpret stimuli into the world gathering information through senses Sensation: product packaging, Nike Brand, Names, Advertisement Experience and association Valued product, quality product The Nike fuel band is perceived as a new way to measure activity levels through consumers. The band has an impact on its target market through the way they organize and interpret the overall satisfaction of the product. Being a Nike product, people trust the brand to produce a quality product that works and fulfils their needs and wants towards becoming fit. The Nike Fuel band’s sleek physical features include, its lightweight, colourful LED lighting, black solid band, and simple design that is easy to wear for everyday use. The band is perceived as a motivational took for Nike customers who already have an active lifestyle or who would like to have an active lifestyle. People associate their experience of the band with staying fit and start to value the product. Only being $149. 00 it is distinguished as a reasonable priced product for the quality and overall satisfaction you get from using it. External Influences Social Reference Groups : Group whose presumed perspective or values are being used by an individual as the basis of his current behaviour what other people think, who uses the brand friends and opinions you trust informational influence- expertise, experience normative influence- fufills group expectations to gain direct reward Identification influence- has internalized the groups values and norms ex. Purchase new runners belong to fitness group Word of mouth marketing Sharing experiences Change in lifestyle- health awareness Many people have an effect consumers decisions when purchasing products. Aspirational reference groups are those who are easily influenced by the decisions of others. An individual as the basis of their current behaviour uses group’s perspective or values. The three major influences of the Nike fuel band include, informational, normative and identification. Providing expert advice and advice based on experience of using the Nike product influences consumers to buy the product based on others opinions. Some consumers will purchase the band due to the fact that they want to fulfil group expectations to gain direct reward known as normative influence. Finally some consumers are more willing to purchase the Nike fuel band, as it is a norm within their reference group, based on their internal values of belonging to the group. Reference groups increase as the degree of necessity of an item decreases. Bring a part of the Nike movement, it influences people with positive behaviour with a change in their lifestyle and being more health conscious. Also it provides a positive attraction to the side effects of using the band within a group as each member discusses and competes along side other members, creating a want to associate with the brand and the product. Reference Groups provide information, rewards and identity that influence consumer’s purchases, consumptions and communication with products. Cultural Factors Social Class: society, status ranking of members in each social class working (brand loyal) , middle, upper Within the Nike community, fitness classifies people ranked not only on their ability, but also their attitude, values, and communication styles to determine their social class structure. The Nike fuel band is targeted towards consumers who are in the middle to upper class status as these people are more brand loyal. The middle to upper class makes up 46. 6% of the overall social class. Within these social classes, there is a ranking of members who classify consumers based on status according to their societies. Social classes are groups who share similar values, interests and behaviours that are relatively continuous. The fuel band has its own sub class within the Nike class that attains to consumers preferences in product satisfaction and targets their audience of fitness lovers. The brand itself holds up a strong reputation and those people who associate or use Nike products establish a reputation. By using communication channels and communication styles we will appeal to our Nike fuel band consumers social group. Media (Social) facebook, socialize, recommend, facilitate, brand loyalists the web is a sea of conversations navigated by search members, friends, family, comments, reviews members good experiences are amplified engage, adds value trusted source engagement give people a reason to talk, get influencers 15. 9 million fans Nike is creating not only products but services to keep people engaged and using their products. Through social networks such as Facebook, Nike is able to raise awareness of the Nike fuel band and encourage people to share their results with family and friends online. The web is a sea of conversations navigate by search with Nike currently having over 15. 9 million Facebook fans (Statistic). In order to measure the fuel, Nike has introduced a number of apps and gadgets to quantify fuel, which can then be shared via Facebook and recorded on the Nike+ website. Using social channels, it is possible to engage in consumer activities by adding value to the fuel band and amplifying good experiences from consumers. Facebook allows you to track your activity throughout the day, and share your goals and results with others of similar interest. Also, this will engage brand loyal consumers and increase their likely hook to buy from Nike in the future when they are pleased with their results and others are pleased as well. The purchase of a Nike product isnt the end of the marketing cycle, but the beginning when Nike can offer a consumer a wide variety of products and services tailored to their individuals needs such as the Nike Fuel Band. Motivation One of the motivations for a fuel band user is self-improvement motivation where consumers are aimed at changing one’s current state to some level, in this case consumers exercise to improve their health and well-being. Consumers use the Fuelband as hedonic motivation as a symbol a healthy lifestyle of the consumer. This motivation falls in the self-actualization form the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Motivation and emotional involvement are closely related, the things that tap our deepest greatest value and evoke strong feelings associated with object and activities related to the Fuelband. (Harris) 5. 4. Personality, lifestyle and self-concept. Personality helps distinguish consumers based on the specific characteristics that a person exhibits consistently. The personality can be conceptualized as a combination of specific traits or characteristics. For the Fuelband, probably the main traits (*) are self -monitoring and competitiveness. The first as trait represents the tendency for consumers to observe and control behaviour in ways that agree with social cues and influence. High self-monitors are influenced by advertising messages that provide information about how products will affect their image, as is the case of the Fuelband. On the other hand the competitiveness trait is defined as an enduring tendency to strive to be better than others, as an example that consumers are directly competing with others in sports, Internet games and for the Fueldband through the phone application. (Harris) The purchase patterns are often influenced by consumer lifestyles, therefore the Fuelband is orientated for people that appeal to the health conscious market. In a recent Australian national Survey showed that 11 million of Australians aged 15 or over participated at least once a week in physical activity for exercise. Demonstrating that Australian culture has about 43% percentage of its population doing physical activities. (Trade). As the purpose of the Fuelband is to motivate consumers to be more active, a suggested video advertising could be based on arouse emotions of becoming healthier, monitoring your activities with the use of the band. (Harris) 6. External Influences (600) 6. 1. Culture and Cultural Values CRISTINA Consumer culture represents the commonly held societal beliefs that define what is socially gratifying with specific society and their consumption. An example of how Australian see themselves is in the following quote from a Cultural Portal about Australia. â€Å"In Australia is a very popular exercise, just as much as going to the Shopping Centre or doing any sport. The so-called Australian Beach Culture is similar to California, Rio de Janeiro, and the Mediterranean†. Doing outdoor activities and physical activities for Australians is part of the culture values and/or the ideal lifestyle for them. This cultural value provides a well prognostic to market the Fuelband as it will enhance and promote physical activities.