Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

UNBOX IT

#Unboxing is a phenomenon that gained momentum with the proliferation of gadgets and digital products. So much so, that the unboxing videos on #YouTube gets thousands of views.

Now if you are a smart #brand, you will pick up a trend of one category and apply it nicely to your category. This is what #Adidas does with their ZX 2K BOOST footwear, which are supposed to be quite advanced footwear in terms of design and technology.

So, these shoes also come packed in this specially designed box, which has been called 'Premium Artifact' by the design agency.

This custom engineered box offers a truly unique unveiling and comes adorned in its own retro, space-tech reusable carrying case. All the material is 100% #recyclable.

I find the #packaging quite cool and goes well with the brand personality.


Tuesday, August 13, 2019

NIKE - SUBSCRIPTION BUSINESS MODEL

#Nike has launched a subscription model for children between the ages of two to 10, where kids can get anywhere between four pairs to 12 pairs of sneakers every year, depending on the subscription model that the parents take.

I think this is a brilliant #marketing strategy and business model because I see the following benefits:

1. Nike makes lives easier for parents as they don't have to go to shop for sneakers regularly for their growing kids. 

2. Once subscribed for a year, kids stay only with Nike, thereby blocking the entry of any other brand in their lives.

3. By giving exposure and experience to kids with Nike at a young age, they are trying to convert them into #brand loyalists at a young age so that even when they grow up, they only think of Nike as their brand of choice.

4. Parents who are not wearing Nike today may convert or shift to Nike when they see their kids comfortable and happy in their sneakers.

5. Once Nike tests and learns from this #business model, it can easily replicate it across other age groups - teenagers, adults and scale it up across geographies. This will open a new business frontier for Nike.

Saturday, July 13, 2019

WISHES DO COME TRUE - TOUR DE FRANCE

Two years back, I finished reading the autobiography of Chris Froome who is one of the world's leading cyclists having won the world's most difficult cycling race #TourDeFrance four times. 

That book was my orientation into competitive cycling. After finishing the #book, I thought that someday I would love to see the Tour de France live.
Soon that thought went into the back of my mind as I got busy with life, until a few weeks back, when a colleague mentioned that he would be going to see the Tour De France live in his town. I knew I had to take that opportunity so I told him that I would join him. But just a few days before the event, he got to know that he has to go out of town for an official trip on the day of the race. I thought that I will have to wait another year to see the race live.
I casually mentioned this to my line manager over a coffee. She saw my excitement as well as disappointment, and so she decided to have a team bonding session at the Tour de France!
There were five of us who went to see Tour de France live yesterday and it was an experience of a lifetime! 

                                              #gratitude #leadership #team #experience

Saturday, September 18, 2010

IF EACH SPORT WAS A WOMAN, WHAT RELATIONSHIP WOULD I HAVE WITH THEM

As the title of this blog suggests, I have let my imagination go a little wild and allowed to indulge myself by thinking each sport to be a woman. By this imaginative logic, let me tell you that I have known lot of guys, who could easily qualify as Casanovas, as they have had all kinds of women falling for them, which means that they have excelled in each and every sport that they have played in their lives.


If I were to talk about myself in this regards, then I guess, people would call me a compulsive flirt – trying my hands/legs at each and every sport…getting lucky (to be read as ‘managing decently well’) in some and realizing that some are not meant for me.

After lot of thinking, analysis, and introspection I have been able to put my relationship status with each of these women and each one is/was actually at a different stage of relationship in my life.

So without talking any more, here goes my relationship status, which I am today openly putting in front of the entire world:

Carrom: Would call my relationship with this as that of ‘puppy love’. Fell for it at a very young age….we overgrew each other over the years. There is still fondness for her but its more of a caring kind, which says that “Don’t worry, when no one is there to support you, I will always be there”.

Basketball: There was something about her that made me go after her. You can call it instant attraction. We saw each other for some time, but our relationship had its ups and downs. We broke up, then got together again, then broke up again to once again get together. Finally, we realised that there is a compatibility issue between us and there is no point in continuing like this. We parted ways amicably, though even today, whenever we meet we have a good time.

Skateboarding: When you are 17 and you just enter college and the entire college is crazy after one girl, you also go after her in the hope that you may get a chance to talk to her. Once you have managed to speak to her and things start falling in place, you have great pride in walking across the campus with her to show her off and to make others jealous. Skateboarding was that woman for me and it allowed me to flaunt what I had got.

Volleyball: We were going good for a few years and all looked good, but then she asked for a commitment and I was not ready for that. We had to say good bye to each other, though both of us know that whenever we meet, the attraction will come back.

Football: When you have just entered your teens and you rebellious nature is just coming out, you like to be with someone who is a tomboy and who also has a rebellious and aggressive nature. Football was that tomboy for me. She knew my state of mind during those years and she helped me in controlling my aggression. We knew we are just helping each other and later in the day, we will just move on. That is what happened.

Table Tennis: This is a woman I have been having a very long term relationship with. We have been seeing each other for almost 14 years now, though we were not together in the middle for 3 – 4 years, but we realised that we can’t stay without each other and we came back together. I can easily say that she has been my rock steady partner. She understands me and my temperament and allows me to be myself…totally uninhibited and I like it that way.

In between my long term relationship with Table Tennis, I have been with other partners also and have also had some flings. In fact, there is a clear understanding of mine with Table Tennis that we will meet other potential partners also, even though we are together so that we know at the end of the day that we chose to be with each other only because others were not fit for us. This is my status with other partners:

Cricket: I have a long-distance relationship with her. We meet once a year and get updated about each others’ lives. There is nothing more to it as we know that our futures are not connected.

Lawn Tennis: We have just started dating each other some time back and these are early days. We are trying to know each other, understand each other’s personalities, likes and dislikes. Right now, I can say that I look forward to my weekend dates with her. Let’s see how it goes from here.

Badminton: The relationship with badminton is kind-of complicated. We don’t meet each other very often and we have not broken up also. Both of us are busy in our lives and in meeting other partners that we don’t miss each other so much. But, whenever there is no one else, we tend to come together. I guess both of us like it that way.

Swimming: What do I say about her? She says she is not into relationships at all. She is just looking for a bonding… does not want to call it a relationship… is just happy that I drop in whenever I can. She has no demands and no expectations. I would call her the silent lover.

This sums up my relationship history with all these beautiful women that I have been lucky to have met in my life. Each one has made moments of life beautiful and I would like to thank each one of them in making me what I am today.