Nike wishes everyone on the planet to ‘Just Do It’. And it is walking the talk, too.
Once it received a note from a 16 year old – Matthew Walzer that he and thousands like him love Nike but they have a problem because they suffer from cerebral palsy because of which they are unable to tie their shoe laces. His issue, he elaborated, would become more acute in 3 years time when he goes to college when his parents will not be with him to tie his shoe laces. Can Nike do something about it?
Nike, of course, got down to doing something about it. For that it took inspiration from ‘door on a hinge’ – the door opens on a hinge, permits people to slip in the room & it closes effortlessly because of the hinge!
Nike’s Flyease has a wrap around zipper system, that people without full use of their hands can open it, slip their feet in & close the zipper. This system obviated the shoe lace tying process.
Bottom-line:
1. Get the best ideas from outside your industry but intelligently adapt it to your industry.
2. Every decision a company takes should not be geared towards maximizing financial returns. It should also take decisions in which every member of a community wins. When that happens, the company and its brand will start being perceived as humane and caring.
Result: Company will generate good-will and trust among its potential customers which will eventually result in business.
