Nike ‘just does it’ with bike sharing scheme

Athletics and running goods giant Nike is helping people get more active – by encouraging people to jump on a bike. The company has struck a new partnership with the City of Portland which will see it become the sole sponsor of the city’s bike share programme, Biketown.

The US$10m, five-year partnership is designed to increase the number of bikes in the Biketown initiative from the current 600 to 1,000. Additionally, Nike is contributing a new design for the Biketown stations – where bikes can be picked up – as well as the visual bike identity and digital branding.

The Biketown bikes will be Nike Orange, a colour that has been synonymous with Nike since 1971, when founder Phil Knight and his first employee Jeff Johnson introduced the hue on the shoebox of the first shoe to bear the brand’s trademark “swoosh” logo.

Nike is based in Portland, so helping the city get more active is a natural move, according to Jorge Casimiro, Nike vice president of global community impact.
“We’re proud of our long history of partnership with the City of Portland,” Casimiro said.

City of Portland commissioner Steve Novick added: “This is how public-private partnerships should be done. We have developed an innovative, next generation bike share system. And in Nike, we have a sponsor that is a global leader in innovation with a distinguished record of supporting sports and physical activity It’s a perfect fit.”

www.biketownpdx.com

The bikes will be designed Orange – a colour synonymous with Nike products

Vibrating football shirts put fans in the action

Football fans will soon be able to ‘feel’ the game while watching the action, thanks to a new fan shirt loaded with wearable technology.

The Alert Shirt, developed by Sydney, Australia-based Wearable Experiments (We:eX), gives haptic feedback to its user, sending subtle vibrations to the user’s chest whenever a goal is scored, a card is shown or any other key event takes place during the game. The technology is based on data from the match – which the shirt wearer is watching – being transmitted via a smartphone app to the electronics embedded within the shirt.

According to Billie Whitehouse, We:eX designer and director, the shirt will become the “fourth dimension of entertainment” by connecting fans to the players like never before.

“The Alert Shirt is completely unlike any other jersey in the sports market,” he says. “Wearable technology must be intuitive and seamless within our daily lives, enhancing our life experience while connecting us to other people and the world at large. Our new product is a major first step in the right direction.”

www.wearableexperiments.com

An Alert Shirt being put through its paces in laboratory conditions

Report: Use tech to cut food queues and improve bottom lines

A new study shows that more than 40 per cent of sports fans worldwide regularly abandon concession lines – without making a purchase – due to excessive waiting.

The Fan Experience: Changing the Game with Food and Beverage report, published by Oracle Hospitality Sports and Entertainment, surveyed more than 3,500 sports fans in eight countries – Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and US – and uncovered the supporters’ top priorities.

The survey suggest that venue operators are missing a trick by not employing technology in order to improve the overall F&B experience – with many stadia and arenas still relying entirely on concourse-based points of sale for their food and drink offer.

For example, a huge majority – 68 per cent of US fans and 60 per cent of international fans – said they would “probably” or “definitely” use in-seat ordering if available at the home stadium of their team.

“Aside from safety and overall venue environment, fans across the world place food and beverage above all else when ranking the elements that are most important to their fan experience,” says Ned Rowland, director of Oracle Hospitality Sports and Ents. 

“Solutions such as cloud platforms would provide operators with the enterprise agility they need to remain innovative.

“The key is to be responsive to change, readily incorporating the most advanced technologies that come along to improve the fan experience.”

www.oracle.com

Solutions such as in-seat ordering could improve revenues/ Poznyakov/SHUTTERSTOCK/COM

Shnarped – the social media revolution for sports?

A Canadian tech startup, founded by college ice hockey players, is aiming to become the “Instagram for sport” after launching a new social media platform for sports video content.

Shnarped – an easy-to-use video editing tool – offers users the opportunity to record their own sporting action and add features such as slow motion, a moving spotlight and music before sharing the footage with friends. The company’s first product, a hockey app, has already garnered more than 100,000 downloads and has been adopted by 150 National Hockey League (NHL) players.

“Kids just want to have fun,” says cofounder and CEO Dustin Sproat.

“They told us making cool sport videos was really hard and that there just wasn’t a good place to post all their sports photos and videos.

“We built Shnarped for them. It’s about finding inspiration, having fun, and building communities through a shared love of sports.”

Shnarped is currently adding around 1,000 users per day.

“The feedback from everyone has really blown us away,” Sproat adds. “Our users tell us Shnarped is going to be huge, and we’re just really proud to be able to use social media in a positive way, encouraging youths to live an active and healthy lifestyle.”

www.shnarped.com

Shnarped

The team behind Shnarped