As a business we put a lot of effort into our own marketing and business development, and sometimes all the blood, sweat and tears can feel like it’s for nothing.

But sometimes you can receive an enquiry that makes you take a sharp intake of breath and maybe even a little squeal of excitement.

This happened to us when someone from Nike’s Marketplace Development team downloaded our Retail Trends 2018 & Beyond Report and, after just a short follow up conversation we had arranged an initial meeting at Nike HQ.

What was most exciting was that Nike’s Marketplace Development and Digital Partnerships teams were keen to hear more about our behavioural-led approach to solving client’s challenges.

Timing was everything at this point because there was a potential project in the offing and the Nike team was looking for a partner to help them with an innovative solution.

It quickly emerged that the project was a collaboration with another amazing brand; DW Fitness First (DWFF), the leading leisure and retail business with 90 stores and 120 gyms.

It’s fair to say the project might ordinarily have been put up for pitch, but in this instance Nike asked us to propose a solution and before long we had approval to kick off a behavioural understanding project with both brands acting as joint stakeholders.

First of all, to gain an unrivalled understanding of the behaviours of the gym members who train at DWFF, we landed on a blend of leading contextual, questioning and observational research techniques including:

  • Behavioural qualitative research of members and PTs
  • Member video diaries
  • Behavioural mapping via quantitative research of members
  • Stakeholder interviews
  • Competitor and brand audit
  • Semiotic research and analysis
  • Trends and cultural analysis

By arming ourselves with such a massive amount of research data, we pretty much guaranteed we’d uncover loads of rich insights to use in the next phase of the project – which was a one day Strategic Sprint.  

For this, stakeholders from Nike and DWFF, plus a mix of strategists, creatives and account handlers from TBA were locked in a room for a day. We went through all the research learnings and worked in teams to formulate ideas.  The net result being more than a hundred tactics and initiatives captured on countless flip chart sheets.

All these ideas were then used to generate a number of ‘strategic territories’ – basically moodboards indicating a direction for the experience.  These were tested with another round of member focus groups. The learnings from which gave us guidance and inspiration for the next (and most exciting) phase of the project.

We ran a two day Design Sprint, during which a team of TBA creatives, strategists and client services created, designed and visualised a number of incredible in-gym experiences and pieces of communication.

Inspired by the insights, tactics, trends and ideas that had been developed up to this point combined with Nike’s unique brand and product stories and DWFF’s authority as a provider of training and nutrition advice, the Creative Sprint process produced an incredible strategic and creative presentation for the Nike and DWFF teams.

As we move in to the activation phase of the project, we can’t wait to bring the ideas to life and see the results of another innovative and exciting project for TBA.

As a behavioral marketing company, influencing behaviours is core to what we do and applying Behavioural Economics to marketing communications is a natural progression. If you are interested in understanding more about how we do this get in touch now.

Uncover the latest Retail Trends for 2019 and beyond: 10 shifts and drivers that will disrupt the way we buy and sell. Download our latest report here.

By Sue Benson

Managing Director