Have you guys ever wondered why a lot of brands, particularly sports-related brands tend to have their own mobile apps? Big sports brands such as UnderArmour, Nike and Asics have invested greatly in app development. What are they trying to gain through this continual investment?
Mobile devices are becoming the most important gateway to everything media. Statistics shows that 79% of all Australian adults under the age of 55 own a smartphone.
With adoption rate as high as 56% in the US alone, we can see that mobile phone ownership will continue to grow along with the apps they support. This presents a new lucrative opportunity for sports brands to connect, engage and communicate with their customers better. Brands such as Nike and UnderArmour have succeded greatly in their Fitness app developments. A lot of others have also failed. Why so? The key is in the value that the app creates.
Value is created through many ways. One is through differentiating the brand mobile app. As most big sports brands now have some type of brand app of their own, it is vital for app-developers to be innovative in creating features to keep the interest and loyalty of the users. For instance, Nike differentiates their app through a motivational feature which keep its users motivated for running. Other brands like UnderArmour, RunKeeper and New Balance have introduced social feature to their apps to connect all like-minded people who love sports.
The other way value is created through mobile app is by strengthening and creating positive brand associations. To achieve this, app developers must ensure a few things in their app development.
-App must solve a problem for users: people like apps which provide them convenience. Sports brand apps must look for problems or issues the users may have when it comes to sports. For example: the app can provide users with fitness benchmarks and indicators to let them know if they have achieved their targets.
-Keeping it relevant : e.g. Nike app is able to send relevant push notification encouraging you to replace your shoes once you have reached a certain running mileage.
-Must be Fun! : app like Strava have introduced a feature where users can compare their time results with other users on different segments of the running route.
So, it seems these top brands have successfully followed these criterias and developed tremendous value through these sporting apps, which have enriched their customer relationships.
What do you guys think? Do you think these Sporting apps by these brands may improve your brand love and in turn your loyalty towards the particular brand?
Leave your thoughts and comments below!
Yoshua Blog 
I think sporting apps will build more brand value towards customers. Customer will if they buying particular brand, not only they can use it but also help them achieve their needs and goals (for example goals to become more fit)
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It would be good to see links to more current, and more local stats about mobile phone ownership and usage. 2015 is two years ago now, and a lot changes in that short time!
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Great post! I think my question for you and any brands as a whole who wants to develop a mobile app or a mobile marketing approach is, are there any more rooms for innovation to ensure success? I feel like the mobile app market is very oversaturated, as such I would think that brands who want to enter this realm of the digital world would need a very creative and “out of the box” mindset to ensure success, which is very hard to do and can translate to a brand’s demise. What do you think about this?
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Yes, thank you for your comment Bara. It is definitely is hard for brands to succeed in mobile app market. But, its not impossible. A lot of brands like Instagram, Nike and Strava have shown that its possible if you really understand what your customers want and what’s relevant for them.
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On the topic of Instagram, that is one of the example for me atleast that brands are getting more uninspiring with their innovation, I mean their story function is a straight up copy from snapchat! Only with a longer time to record! What do you think about that?
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Yes. In my other blog entitled “Facebook vs Snapchat stories” I pointed out how it’s reasonable for Instagram to copy Snapchat as they provide users with similar benefits like sharing photos and moments. This is why FB stories failed to pick up coz they are not in the same ball game as Snapchat, but they still wanna copy them and they failed.
I get what you mean by uninspiring , but for me Instagram has really done well recently with the introduction of the “multiple pics in one post” and some other ones.
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