Nike released a landing page and Instagram account for Nothing but Gold, a social commerce app targeting Gen Z women. The website is in beta, but sounds like the app will combine TikTok-like features, community aspects and sales channels. Check out this Front Office Sports article for more details.  

Here are three lessons from Nike’s Nothing but Gold decision applicable to your athletic department:

1. Control your community – Nike has heavily focused on building their DTC channels. The biggest example was the global sportswear company announcing it would no longer sell through Amazon. By building applications, Nike is creating its own community of consumers while collecting real-time behavioral feedback that can be turned into new products. Few brands have as deeply loyal customers as Nike but College Athletics is one of them. Yet, most schools we’ve spoken with use their existing mobile app as an information hub rather than a platform to engage their fans. If that’s your department, give the Enterprise Solutions team a call – we’ve helped multiple schools think through their digital strategy when it comes to mobile apps 

2. Personalized experiences are key – My favorite part of Nike’s Nothing but Gold app? The fact the app targets a specific customer segment. Nike clearly understands that with its massive customer base, different demographics have different purchasing habits. The strategy to sell to millennial male NBA fans needs to be differentiated from the strategy to sell to Gen Z women. As an athletic department, your fans want personalized experiences. Having separate apps for different fan segments may be unrealistic but are you finding successful ways to segment and target different fan groups with personalized experiences? If not, what technologies do you need to be successful? 

3. Fan engagement & commerce are becoming intertwined – Social commerce is the term commonly used. Combining a social element (Nothing but Gold’s TikTok-like features) with a sales channel helps maximize revenue. If you already own someone’s attention, it’s much easier to sell to them. If you aren’t embracing social commerce, you’re missing out on opportunities for customized merchandise drops or unique experience sales.  

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