Last updated: December 11, 2022
Nike Launches SWOOSH: What It Means for Consumer Brands
There are only a few brands that have the worldwide notoriety and brand recognition of Nike. On the consumer-facing side, I think only Apple and Amazon beat them. So when Nike does something, all other consumer (and eCommerce) brands should take note. Especially when they do it in a big way.
On November 14, Nike officially announced Dot Swoosh, the hub for its web3/NFT/virtual collectible efforts (interestingly though, on the landing page there is no mention of web3, NFTs, or the metaverse).
The official domain is Swoosh.
Ever since its inception, Nike has been known to move fast and adopt (or create) trends at lightning speed. As someone who is pro-Nike, pro-DTC, and pro-web3, I could not be more excited and bullish on this move and Nike’s full integration of web3 into their core business.
“It will be a place where our community can come in and co-create that future with us,” says Ron Faris, GM of Nike Virtual Studios. “You can collect, trade, and flex Nike virtual products. You can go to IRL events with your token-gated virtual creations.”
“We’ve learned a lot from our friends at RTFKT about how to do this right,” says Faris, “and we talk to them weekly about what are the best practices and how we can start to take certain learnings and really broaden them.”
Nike will not selling anything through .Swoosh yet—it will release its first collection of virtual products there in January. Users will be able to buy items there with a regular credit or debit card as they would on nike.com, and their purchases will be secured on the blockchain (using Polygon – see their announcement here). .Swoosh will test utilities for the collection’s items: some will be tied to physical product, some will allow the holders entry into events, some can be used on existing Nike-related NFTs from RTFKT (the company they acquired in Dec ’21). In the future, Nike will offer a pre-order for a physical shoe in the form of a virtual one. There will be challenges where winners can assist Nike in the co-creation of virtual products and, in true web3 fashion, Nike will use the blockchain to share revenue of co-created designs as they are sold and resold.
Nike is embracing co-creation, creators, and community very strongly with this integration. I (and we here at Wallaroo) think this is the future of how a brand should build their community/audience/social media strategy. There are so many things that web3/NFTs can unlock. Loyalty programs, physical and/or digital airdrops, upsells, community engagement rewards, and much, much more.
Back to the Future ????
But the Future is Now⚡️ pic.twitter.com/UZQeGxuMnU— RTFKT (@RTFKT) December 4, 2022
..and yes Move to Earn / iRL Quest ???? pic.twitter.com/3F5XL2Epyc
— RTFKT (@RTFKT) December 5, 2022
Move to earn has the potential to be huge, and fully aligned with Nike’s core values. Along with this, Nike announced Our Force 1. From their blog:
Given its timeless design and unbreakable connection to the community, it only felt right to launch the first .SWOOSH collection around the AF1 and that’s why we’re excited to announce Our Force 1. The Our Force 1 journey is an opportunity for the community to come together and shape our first-ever virtual creations.
They’re doing bracket-style voting and their NFTs will be built off the winning choice.
Nike is putting on an absolute masterclass on how to integrate web3 into a brand. I’ll be constantly updating this piece with new developments on their program, so feel free to bookmark it. Nike is approaching $200m in revenue from web3 ventures thus far, almost 20x of its closest industry competitor (Adidas, with Puma in third place). I have a feeling this is just the beginning.
If you’re reading this and run a consumer brand yourself, I think it’s time to take a hard look at how you can effectively integrate web3 into your business. There are endless way to structure it. As you can see, you don’t even have to use the words “NFT” or “Metaverse” when you roll it out. If the program is designed properly, it can greatly increase your customers’ loyalty to your brand, help increase retention/LTV of said customers, and increase your brand affinity + your customers’ sense of ownership and community.
If you’d like to schedule a free strategy call where I personally consult you on how you can build this with your brand, please don’t hesitate to reach out! My direct email is brandon AT wallaroomedia DOT com. I am very passionate about the future of this space and would love to chat. You can also contact us through a form by clicking here!
