hawkeye Sports and Entertainment

Gamification

In January 2012 we reported on the 10 marketing trends to watch and trends #6 (experiential embraces technology) and #7 (Gamification) were taken to the streets in late 2011 for Gatorade at the Nike Women's Marathon and Half Marathon in San Francisco.

The challenge: Provide athletes with a memorable experience that set the stage for their upcoming race and helped them understand the importance of sports nutrition while running.

The solution: We created The G Series PRO Sports Nutrition Zone race simulation and connected runners to the brand through gesture control technology ("GestureTek Cube") that allowed athletes to step into the screen and test their sports nutrition knowledge in an interactive way.

GestureTek Cube running the G Series Pro simulation

Gatorade products are heavily rooted in science, and as such, hawkeye designed and programmed the simulation to have a sleek, realistic feel with a link to the scientific principles behind sports nutrition. To begin, runners would be introduced to a Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) representative and tap the "Start" indicator on the floor mat.

Start Screen

Screens detailed instructions for the simulation as well as the "gesture" technology

Once they had received the instructions, the simulation started with a pre-race scenario that prompted runners to select they would eat/drink prior to running by tapping their foot. The zone meter on the right side of the screen would register the appropriate relative amount of carbohydrates, electrolytes and fluid.

Pre-Race selection screen

After selecting an option before the "race," the screen would change and the runner would step into the shoes on the starting line to begin the race simulation.

Athletes would step onto the (Nike) shoes to begin the race

The road began moving and nutritional items slowly moved toward the runner, whose task was to select the appropriate products with the necessary nutritional elements to keep the zone meter on the right at optimal levels. For example, selecting only water would raise the blue fluid meter, but the carbohydrates and electrolyte meters were unchanged; if the athlete selected G Series PRO Endurance Formula, all three meters rose to reflect the nutritional benefits provided by that product during the race. During the entire simulation, which was timed to be a "sped-up" 3:30 marathon, the GSSI representative provided sports nutrition insight and recommendations based on what the athlete was selecting.

Sports nutrition items began moving toward the athletes, who could step on them to select

The zone meter on the right of the screen reflected certain nutritional levels of the selected items

Once the race ended and the athlete crossed the finish line, the Post-Race screen displayed items for athletes to choose as they would for race recovery. 

The post-race selection screen offered items to choose to begin the recovery process

A final screen would show totals of consumption before, during and after the "race", at which point the athletes briefly received a valuable, overarching sports nutrition consultation from the GSSI representative.

Summary screen displaying what the athlete consumed during the simulation

As you can see from the photo below, the simulation was popular. Gatorade was able to present the science of sports nutrition to athletes through an innovative, interactive and personal medium, while providing the athletes with advice and information from experts on the topic. 

Runners lined up to watch and take part in the simulation

Race to Produce Green Mobile Phones

Samsung unveiled Blue Earth, an eco-consciously created handset with a rear-mounted solar panel last month in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress 2009.

According to the company, by charging with the solar panel Blue Earth users can generate enough power to call anytime anywhere. Rounder and a bit thicker than the average mobile phone, the touch screen handset is made from recycled materials and designed to look like a flat shiny pebble.

The Blue Earth case is made entirely from recycled plastic water bottles and castor beans; the packaging is 100 percent recyclable and uses soy-based inks. Samsung has a take-back program for recycling old phones and is not new to eco-phone technology.

Samsung E200 body is made from bio-plastic, naturally extracted from corn. Two tons of CO2 emissions are saved each time one ton of E200 cases are produced from bio-plastic rather than oil-based plastic.

Blue Earth comes with a charger that draws minimal power and which, Samsung promises is free from Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) and other harmful substances. Another cool feature is the integrated pedometer built into the phone that tells you how many trees you’ve saved by walking to work rather than driving in a car.

There is also an energy saving “eco-mode” that optimizes Bluetooth, screen brightness and backlight duration. Blue Earth will be available later this year.

Just days after Samsung unveiled its solar-powered handset Korean rival LG came up with a somewhat less green look alike. The LG version has a solar panel built on its battery cover and according to LG, a ten-minute exposure to direct sunlight can power the device for a three-minute call.

Expected to be available before the end of 2009, the yet unnamed handset will not be made from recycled materials, however LG will use green packaging and print user manuals with soy ink on recycled paper.

Motorola’s Renew W233 handset is described as the “world’s first carbon neutral mobile phone.” The company has purchased enough offsets to make the manufacturing process of the Renew W233 carbon neutral. This model is made from recycled plastic and Motorola claims that 20 percent less energy is needed to produce the phone compared to the standard plastic process.

Although the renew W233 is not solar-powered, the packaging is eco-friendly and brochures are printed using vegetable-based inks on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. Motorola extends the conservation theme to the phone’s performance with up to nine hours of talk time, which means that users can talk more, charge less and reduce energy usage.

Sony Ericsson recently announced its GreenHeart concept phone with biodegradable housing, paperless electronic manuals, recycled plastic keypads, eco-friendly packaging, and a zero-waste charger.

Nokia’s senior manager for environmental affairs, Johanna Jokinen says that Nokia is pushing to make its entire product line more eco- friendly.

More than 80 percent of all its phones ship with power-saving chargers and the company uses 100 percent recycled materials and complies with European restrictions on the use of flame-retardants and other toxic chemicals. Nokia also offers drop off points for old Nokia phones in more than 85 countries, as well as mail in options.

Jokinen said, “Merely by reducing the amount of packaging it ships with each phone, Nokia has taken more than 12,000 trucks off the road since 2006, saving some 474 million Euros for the company.”