Nike Purchases Technology Start-Ups To Build New Digital Studios.

　　 Nike It announced on Tuesday that it has acquired technology start-ups Virgin Mega to help it build a new digital studio in New York. This is a small company composed of 12 people under Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

In the press release announcing the acquisition, Nike said the digital studio will be responsible for developing the core mobile experience community and function of Nike.

What does that mean? Nike has its own marketing team and has established partnerships with many institutions including AKQA, R/GA and Wieden + Kennedy. Why does it buy a whole company to do so?

We interviewed Virgin Mega founder and CEO Ron Faris (Ron Faris), hoping to find the answer.

Faris joined the Virgin Group in 2006, when he served as the company. brand Marketing and experience supervisor. He is responsible for hosting the free Virgin Mobile Festival, as well as liaison artists and sports brands, including Lady Gaga and New York Nicks basketball team.

In 2013, Faris proposed a new virgin company to brandson, a technology startups specializing in fans and mobile shopping.

Faris said, "I left the post of Virgin Mobile company in charge of marketing, and founded a technology start-up company, mainly because I found that young people, especially the millennial generation, are looking for new ways to interact with their favorite brand on mobile devices. With my experience in dealing with BuzzFeed and other experiences in mobile and music festivals, I find that millennial people need such an experience: building ties with their favorite brands and building emotional connections. "

Virgin Mega is somewhat mysterious. It did not carry out media publicity, nor did it make use of virgin's brand to cover its face. It has been supported by venture capital, from venture capital FirstMark Capital and QueensBridge Venture Partners to seed capital that has not been disclosed.

Faris's plan for Virgin Mega is to build an engineer. product The team will use data to test the new mobile experience.

The first application they launched was MegaLine. This app allows fans to compete with each other when queuing up for exclusive products. Users can get the opportunity to jump jump and jump closer to the products they rush to buy.

The exclusive products include breakfast oats, hip-hop artist Cam'ron T-shirt, rap artist A$AP Rocky jewelry and Valentine's necklace.

Faris said, "at the music festival, before the gate opens, you will see countless children waiting for the long queue in the heavy rain. They are all very excited. This situation always surprises me. Everyone in the team is full of energy. They share a common interest -- football matches, concerts or Nike sneakers.

Not long ago, Virgin Mega and Nike discussed how to cooperate, for the crazy Nike shoe fans, who usually queue for hours to buy the latest sports shoes, to create mobile experience.

"We began to discuss how to cooperate. As we deepen our understanding, we find that we are very well placed in culture. " Faris said, "to be honest, their enthusiasm for their fans and products is the positive energy we want to see in our working customers. It is undeniable that after several talks, we have successfully completed the acquisition.

Faris added that Branson and Virgin Group believe that there are many "DNA" between the two brands. Therefore, they believe that the whole team is justified in the incorporation of Nike.

　 In a blog article, Branson talked about the acquisition:

"I am very sad to see Ron and his team leave. But they will create a new digital innovation studio in New York. There, they will create and nurture the next generation of mobile experience. I can't wait to see what new things they will create with Nike's brand collaboration that focuses on customer service and innovation. "

The primary concern of Faris and his team is to make Nike SNKRS apps more focused on the fans community. With his many years of musical connections in Virgin Group, they are likely to create miracles.

At Nike's latest earnings call conference, the company outlined its plans for further development through investment digital services.

Andy, chief financial officer of Nike, said: "in the 2016 fiscal year, demand creation activities -- a marketing activity that persuaded the customers why they needed a new product -- increased by 2%. Andy Campion. We have made strategic investments in digital user participation and sports marketing, and have also increased efficiency in traditional advertising. " With Nike's investment in consumer oriented digital products, the company's annual operating costs also increased by 8%.

Nike CEO Mark Parke (Mark Parker) adds that mobile innovation and personalized services dominate the whole industry. That's why we invest in integrating digital and physical retail stores. We need to make consumers better understand the products they want, and work more closely with the best wholesalers that share our vision. "