Adidas Women NYC: Cultivating community
In 2018, adidas wanted to reach more users on a hyperlocal level and build authentic relationships with their consumers. Those consumers needed a central place online to gather and take part in a special community. During my time at Happylucky, we created, managed and cultivated this community to a fruitful group of 3,000 brand advocates.
Service
Service
Role
UI, UX, Video Editing Art Direction, Experience Design
Client
Adidas
Firm
Happylucky
Year
2018
Adidas Women NYC video
Service
Service
Service
How might we support local women in their need to cultivate friendships and fitness while building brand advocates for life?
THE CHALLENGE
Recapture the female consumer in 12 months
The women’s market was lagging, it needed a reboost online and at the ground level. Our challenge was to create and produce monthly events, while managing and building an online community.
Our high level goals were to:
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Create an inclusive female fitness community
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Give them a central place online to rsvp to events and share photos
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Increase traffic to adidas.com/women
THE SOLUTION
An inclusive women's community and an intuitive product to serve their needs
I was part of an ambitious project to cultivate an inclusive women’s fitness community that would eventually be nationwide.
Team :
• Me: UI Design Lead, UX Researcher
• Creative Director
• Product Manager
• Remote: Dev Team
• Remote: 3 designers
• Remote: 2 producers
Our strategy was:
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A minimum of 3 versatile fitness events per month
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A robust website with strategic email marketing campaign
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Build partnerships with local studios, brand ambassadors and leverage influencers reach to build user base and increase visibility
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Leverage product drops and marketing campaigns to align with events to increase conversion to adidas.com/women
Our immediate challenges were:
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Understanding and reaching the target audience
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Building trust and credibility through brand continuity
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Developing a dependable product within time constraints
THE KICK-OFF
Defining the ask
At the beginning of the project, we didn't have a clear vision or set of pre-conceived parameters of kpi's. We needed to define what our goals were for this community, who our audience was and what the site needed to accomplish. We established our set of guard rails and dove into a strategy of what is an adidas women.
Website guidelines established were:
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Modern look and streamlined for usability
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User profile with data capture for future events
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Easy to update for fast and frequent changes
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Photo gallery for user downloading
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Provide link out to adidas.com/women for more conversion
Understanding "Her"
Our female users needed a fitness community where she could feel completely comfortable, safe and welcomed. She is a fitness fanatic, enjoys social atmospheres but also has a deeper desire to give back to the community.
EARLY INSIGHTS
Searching for authentic connection
Interviewing NYC locals, we found out what their pain points were when it came to building relationships and working out. They yearned for community, to cultivate their best selves and to share their process online.
User pain points:
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Users were unaware of fitness based communities for women
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Users were frustrated by gyms options, too expensive and too masculine
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Users wanted versatility in their fitness regimen
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Users were unaware or skeptical of online fitness communities that wanted to meet in person
DISCOVERY
Uncharted territory
During the research process, I ultimately found the NYC market was widely untouched for competitors at the brand level. We had a real opportunity to gain many users and create real connections at the community level, while building brand partnerships and conversion for business viabilities.
DEEPER INSIGHTS
Evolution and adaptation is key
As lead designer, my role was to think strategically and look for opportunities to align and evolve our program based on users needs, product alignment and social causes to always be relevant. Our solution was working with local artists, collaborating with influencers and creating events that highlighted the latest hyped studios, varied instructors and creating space for underrepresented voices.
"I actively stalk the site to see what the brand is up to. I don't even wait for the emails sometimes."
- LA community member
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Establishing Structure
Creating a site map helped define the structure of my wireframes and ensure the product was displaying only the most critical information. Creating a user account allowed each guest to create their own profile and have maximum control over their registration. It also allowed us to capture as much user data as possible.
DESIGN PROCESS
Brand Continuity
The design process was driven by the need for a modern, consistent look with adidas.com. I needed to create a cohesive look that spoke the same language. Taking into account existing communities, brand guidelines, typography consideration, UI suggestions from brand design, I decided on a tile card system with bold images and uppercase headlines, all stemming from the adidas language.
CONCLUSION
A loyal community
We saw a 400% increase in sign-up the first two months. This level of engagement lead to the growth and creation of a new community in Los Angeles.
Our results were:
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A female community with over 3,000 users in 6 months
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A robust website, 93% Instagram hashtag engagement and 66% email engagement
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23 brand partners created and 22 influencers/artists engaged
