Tag Archives: Nike

Tech

Tons of Changes in Apple WatchOS 7: “Dance” in Re-named Fitness App at top of list

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/videos/watchos-dance/WWDC_Newsroom-003-ProRes-cc-us-06222020_1280x720h.mp4
Videoclip: Apple WWDC Apple Watch Dance Presentation

Sneak Peek at OS7 Health and Fitness updates

At WWDC 2020, a first ever Apple virtual special event, the company officially announced the next update to the Apple Watch operating system called watchOS 7, which will have many new changes including custom personalization along with health and fitness features. The update is expected to be available to the public (for free of course) later this year, most likely around September, which is when the iPhone 12 is also anticipated to be released. The WatchOS 7 update has been confirmed to be functional on the Apple Watch versions 3, 4, and 5. Which means if you have the earlier versions like Apple Watch Series 1 or 2 you will not be able to retrieve the update.

One of the features includes big new upgrades to the Workout app which is one of Apple’s most popular and most used apps on the smartwatch, according to internal analytics, presumably. Running, swimming, rowing, cycling and more are some of the current commonly used workouts that can be tracked on the Apple Watch. Now, four completely new workouts will be available – Dance, Core Training, Functional Strength Training and Cool-down which will offer custom-built motion algorithms and heart rate sensors to best track your movements.

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Dance is set to be added as a total body workout and will have the ability to track movements from a handful of the most popular dance styles that includes Hip Hop, Latin, Bollywood, and Cardio Dance (see video, above). Getting accurate tracking and credit for dancing previously proved challenging since dancing is not always repetitive and rarely has synchronized arm and leg movements like running and walking often do. With the newest update, Apple is using advanced censor fusion that will combine data from the heart rate sensor, accelerometer and gyroscope to get a better full body reading (movements in your arms and legs ) that will generate a more accurate ‘calories burned’ calculations for dance movements.

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The OS7 will also track accurate calories for: Core Training, Functional Strength Training, & Cooldown. Core training where exercise is primarily focused on abs and back. Functional Strength Training is a workout type that helps you get stronger and move better for everyday activity. And Cool-down which can be added onto various workouts is when you want to continue with easy movements and stretches to bring heart rate and breathing back to normal.

Not bad. Sounds like very little new on paper, but if you use the workouts, like I do, these small changes represent more freedom to do what you want, and add a more natural feeling to your routine.

All your workouts can be tracked extensively with tons of precise data within the Activity App which is completely redesigned in the new update. The redesign has a new summary tab system to allows seamless switching between the Activity, Workouts, Awards and Trends views, all within one tab. The Activity App has also received a new moniker – and will be called simply: “Fitness”.

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Branding, Business, Entertainment, News, Politics

Gillette Gets Masculinity Mixed-Up

It’s The Why, Not The What

https://youtu.be/koPmuEyP3a0

Reports indicate that Nike’s “Kaepernick” campaign was successful as both advertising (increasing sales) and as controversial social commentary. In this case, it appears to have had the intended effect.

The “Success has many Fathers” rule led, unavoidably, the next batch of socially aware commentary with a taste of controversy. A great new genre and, overall, a positive move and redefinition of advertising?

In the case of Gillette, it begs the question, why Gillette and why now? The previous Gillette campaign “Boston Made” was a stark departure from their staple of ads, oriented towards product shots and hawking of benefits, that go back decades. Why change now to new styles and directions?

A revolution in direct-to-consumer branding in the U.S.A., that’s why.

The huge and unexpected success of upstarts in the once impenetrable shaving supplies market by online “answer brands” like Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club was behind a drop in Gillette’s 70% of the market in 2008 to only 50% in 2017.

For more than a century Gillette and Schick were #1 and #2 in a huge men’s shaving industry which recently accounted for $2.8 billion in annual sales. Suddenly, the two main upstarts have grown to around 10% of that.

Read More: A Bully with a “Nice” Promise is Still just a Bully: Big tech Behemoth Plays Coronavirus Card

A bite of that magnitude, and one that is growing, was enough to awaken the sleeping giant. First, an attempt at rebranding as a kind of “local” start-up with the “Boston Made” campaign mentioned above, and now, with the “We Believe: The best men can be” ad, the giant is fighting back.

Problems of veracity with the Boston ads, and perhaps looking a little desperate with the newest socially aware salvo notwithstanding, we should all still applaud this story and others like it.

Having four or more choices and pricing options in a formerly closed market is a clear advantage for consumers. And, regardless of your take on the content or message in the “Believe” clip above, it’s still better and more interesting to see this than yet another animated imaginary blade cutting fake hairs on a cartoon chin “oh so close and easy”.

Even this video response from Égard Watch Company adds to the conversation and to the variety of opinions, not just on “what is a man?” but even more so: “what is an advertisement?”.

Ok, opportunistic? Sure. But at least new things are being tried and tested.

Be it Razor’s or a Mattress or any other product, with help from changes brought on by eCommerce, the wave of companies finding ways to capture even 10% of a previously stagnant market are a ray of hope and a healthy shot of competition.

“Even this video response from Égard Watch Company adds to the conversation and to the variety of opinions, not just on “what is a man?” but even more so: “what is an advertisement?”.”


Never mind that Harry’s was recently bought by Unilever (and was thereby swallowed up by Gillette’s main competitor since P&G owns Gillette), the wave of new companies across all categories, many of which were thought of as impossible to enter at any cost, is a win for us all and one of the most exciting trends to emerge as the internet begins it’s third decade.

Interact 2018 – Direct to Consumer. An evolution in how consumer brands create and extract value from IAB Europe

So, hooray! and thanks to Nike (although, perhaps the extra $6 billion in sales are thanks enough). Here’s to hoping that more large companies will jump into the fray with more “crazy” campaigns to recapture relevance (and market share) from the new kids on the block.

Read More: Read “Deadliest Enemy” for Deep Background on Pandemics and the Danger of a Second Wave

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