Digital More Important Than Traditional Channels, Nike VP Says

Brands need to focus their attention on interacting with consumers via digital channels, as they can boost business far more than any of the traditional tools for advertising can, says Stefan Olander, Nike´s vice president of digital sport.

Olander, who spoke to Marketing Week at the Cannes Lions Festival of creativity, explains that Nike has fully embraced digital and has turned it into a central point in its marketing mix. Nike is currently offering a range of digital services, including a fitness service called Nike Plus Fuel Band - a small wristband which counts the user´s physical activity and calories burnt. It was first introduced in the US and has been available in the UK since May.

By delivering a wide range of digital services, consumers are encouraged to interact with brands on a day-to-day basis. While he admits that Nike Plus was just an experiment, Olander points out that marketing is a way to provide solutions to consumers, to facilitate things for them and to help them improve what they do.

Whenever such an experiment works well, it can bring about immense benefits for a company, Olander notes. If millions of people engage with the brand every day and they keep coming back again, this is a clear sign that the strategy is working and this is more than any of the traditional methods of advertising can do for a business, Olander claims.