Not many business concepts hit me with the potential of the branded platform, where brands come together to create value they could not deliver on their own. We are all familiar with Apple Itunes store, but what about the other brands that are mobilising themselves to be a conduit for even greater value, by becoming a platform for brand collaboration.
Hats off to Nike who have created sensor technology to work seamlessly with Tom Tom GPS technology, your computer, your smartphone, your XBox and social media technology. Today we can observe our performance like never before with Nike+ personal device linked sensors, all delivered through the branded platform of Nike+. In the spirit of collaboration, Nike launched Nike+ Accelerator, where Nike open their doors to work with Nike like minded brands to build their brand on the Nike platform.
The key to building a branded platform is the investment in a branded community. Platforms and communities are based on attraction rather than promotion. No more couch potatoes to broadcast your message to, the customers need to feel emotionally drawn to you and they have to want to stay close. Branded communities that become platforms where multiple brands co create, will be the way of the future. This is all part of the trend to move towards community marketplaces, marketplaces that brands will create, as they move away from a product-service centric view of the world to a platform-community-experience centric view.
Increasingly, as media fragments, social media and branded platforms will become the brand awareness channel and the distribution channels.
To grow your brand in today’s market, you have to be so attractive customers want to share you with each other. Nike+ uses the competitive nature of athletes to track their personal best and challenge them to compete with others in their social network. To feed their customers competitive nature, Nike+ technologies, come with customizable personal training programs and benchmarking capacities.
Nike uses atheletes with twitter followings in their millions to tweet about their performance and pull other user/customers into the Nike+ experience. Nike built their personal training platform with Xbox in a product known as, Nike+ Kinect. You can join others in the Nike+ Kinect Xbox community to pump each other up and share your performance. Nike+ Kinect customises the training based on your own individual needs.
Those brands that capitalise on the branded platform opportunities will be first mover brands with social energy and emotional attraction. A brilliant brand strategy, dripping in creative genius, sparking with great breakthrough ideas and irresistible in its appeal, are the winning attributes of the branded platforms that will make it in the marketplace of tomorrow.
Louise Kelly
Managing Director
Hearts and Minds, www.heartsandminds.com.au
Founder Thought Leaders Circle
Thought Leaders Circle 