[Short #140] Build, Buy, Partner Part 2: Nike's .SWOOSH platform

PLUS: 💻 TPan x Flaunt Webinar this Wednesday!

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the Web3 headlines roll in this morning. The seemingly never-ending FTX saga will continue so I’ll let the other publications report on that.

Nike’s .SWOOSH launch

After months of speculation, Nike revealed more details about their .SWOOSH (pronounced ‘Dot Swoosh’) platform, with more details in a piece with Vogue Business.

What’s the TLDR of the Vogue article?

• .SWOOSH is under the Nike Virtual Studios division (NVS), headed by Ron Faris. Ron was formerly the head of Nike’s SNKRS app.

• .SWOOSH will officially launch on Friday 11/18. Beta users will be able to access the platform if they receive an access code.

• The first digital collection will release in January 2023

• Some examples of what the new platform could enable if a user purchases a virtual shoe:

  • Preorder a physical counterpart

  • Access token-gated chats with shoe designers

  • Unlock digital goods to be worn in video games

• NVS will host events in six cities — Atlanta, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Tallahassee, Louisville and New York focusing on education and inclusion for the .SWOOSH platform

• A key facet of the NVS strategy is to include co-creation, which would allow the community to weigh in on design and earn royalties on co-created products

🤯 That’s a lot coming from one of the most recognized brands in the world.

For those of you that are just learning about .SWOOSH today, this project was stealthily announced 6 months ago in conjunction with Nike’s 50th anniversary celebration activations.

As mentioned in my LinkedIn post above, there were 4 phases for the Dot Swoosh project leading up to launch:

• Learning

• Building

• Preparing to Launch

• Take Off

In my incorrect prediction featuring the Lebron vs. Father Time ad campaign a month ago, I noted that the .SWOOSH website updated to the ‘Building’ phase.

With this announcement, it seems that we’re in the ‘Preparing to Launch’ and soon to be in the ‘Take Off’ phase.

In addition to the announcement, the .SWOOSH team also partnered with Rug Radio to host a Twitter Spaces and provided more info on launch.

Takeaways from the Spaces:

• Users that have access to .SWOOSH will be able to claim their .SWOOSH ID, which will be a minted token

• The IRL activations will begin in December, which I’m assuming is related to the 6 cities mentioned in the Vogue article

• Nike views RTFKT as a brand geared towards Web3 natives while Nike’s .SWOOSH platform is for the Web3 curious

• The first collection and marketplace will go live in January

• The team views their tech stack in 4 layers

  • Blockchain: Polygon

  • Payments + Wallets: Stripe + Bitgo

  • Smart contracts: Syndicate + Hypermint (Moonpay)

  • Marketplace: Syndicate

  • Some of the solutions are custom based on Nike’s needs

• The platform will first roll out in North American and select European countries

One important detail to note is that RTFKT, which Nike acquired late last year, seems to be supporting Nike with this effort:

Benit0 RTFKT 👁‍🗨 @benitopagotto

been working with @Nike .swoosh team to help them prepare for the on-boarding of the next web3 wave. More on that later today 👀

Vogue Business @voguebusiness

A new platform from Nike Virtual Studios aims to onboard the #Web3 curious among Nike consumers, with a roadmap that borrows from @RTFKT’s playbook. https://t.co/RINZYZm0gI

When I think about Nike’s Build, Buy, Partner strategy, the ‘Buy’ portion of their strategy is coming full circle to help with the ‘Build’ and ‘Partner’ pieces in an intriguing way:

I can’t say for sure this is how RTFKT is supporting Nike, but it’s probable considering the RTFKT teams Web3 native expertise and creative dominance.

Jeff also brings up a great point on the wording of this launch:

Kauffman Swoops @jeffkauffmanjr

The battle of words continues... Nike is aligning with "virtual goods", not "digital collectibles" as we've seen with web2 social platforms.

On the swoosh.nike website, Nike mentions the term ‘virtual creation’ at least 20 times. That’s…a lot.

Why the term ‘virtual creation’ and why so many times?

This is a new term. Repetition is key for users to be comfortable with the term and to associate it with Nike.

I’m not a word expert, but if I were to take the definition of the word ‘virtual’ it gets interesting:

I believe that Nike is positioning its virtual goods to be realistic in a way that many digital assets aren’t.

The screenshot above shows examples of these virtual goods on a digital avatar and a high quality render of a sneaker concept. The render looks similar to RTFKT sneaker collabs like the one below.

Source

The bridge from virtual to physical is more impactful. It’s also more flexible from an interoperability standpoint (digital avatars, video games, etc.). Ron Faris expands on the definition to be much broader:

What about the ‘creation’ part of the term?

Creation implies the act of creating, which is an active term vs. a digital ‘good’. Nike wants to make sure that the community is actively involved in that:

Well played Nike. I’m excited to see another major brand push Web3 towards mainstream adoption.

And if you want to signup for the .SWOOSH waitlist reminder, go here! Shoutout to Rug Radio for providing the link. The signup ends soon, so act quick.

TPan x Flaunt

I’ll be a guest speaker on Flaunt webinar series on Wednesday. We’ll be chatting about Web3 loyalty and other related topics. Hope to see you there!

See you tomorrow 🫡