Nike's PhotoID

Nike is at it again. Nike has implemented a visual importation program utilizing your cellphone. Consumers can snap away with Nike PhotoID, as it "aims to tap into the habits of the digital generation and the growing expectations of consumers to customise their lives". It takes the dominant colors and makes them the primary colors for the kicks. Alas, its only 2 of the dominant colors, but you do get the nice canvas of the 1985 Dunk high-top. Maybe this is living off the b&w plus 1 dominant color thing popping up on cameras right now.

While Nike described the service as a "watershed moment in mobile campaign activity", its interesting use is that visualization. Consumers are probably more likely to find inspiration out in real-world experiences than just surfing on the web, so its great to implement technology that enables existing behaviors. I don't personally send MMS's, so i wonder if ian email would be sufficient. Also the two color bit, is somewhat limited. The big question is can it really force people to adopt mms as a long-term behavior on their phones? I could see people trying it as a novelty, but then heading back to id for their bread and butter ID designs. Why not meld it into ID and let people implement their 2 colors of choice with the standard ones on all the shoes?

I dont see it as that watershed of a moment, but maybe the euros really do use their phones differerently. Nike aims to have people use this longterm, but is this really going to change their behavior? I'm struggling to find the how, next to the cool factor. Feels a little one-off.

It was creaked by AKQA and is launching in nine European countries today. See it in video here


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