For the bulk of the tennis world, Wimbledon is the highlight of the season. Held on infamous grass courts where iconic moments fought by prolific names have become an expectation, this event stands apart from others deemed worthy as Grand Slam components. An honorable celebration of the game’s long and storied history, Wimbledon represents the tennis community’s undeniable infatuation with history and an undying respect for the way things were despite the evolution of the game we watch today.
As this year’s tournament approaches the quarter- and semi-final stages of competition, I’m unable to avoid pondering the events thus far. Many of the recognized stars – Marin Cilic, Maria Kirilenko, Richard Gasquet, Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams… all top-10 players – have been dispatched. While the action has been nothing short of compelling, it fails to earn my undivided attention… and the technology on the scene is a primary distraction.
The bulk of the headlines surrounding Wimbledon and the technology attached are tied to engagement and/or marketing application. Bethanie Mattek-Sands has chronicled her Wimbledon experience with Google Glass, and as we’ve come to expect, mass media has found delight in sharing her journey. The All England Club has earned praise for their mobile app, giving tennis fans unable to attend a direct connection to the Wimbledon experience (and enhancing the experience for those who can). Sony has beefed up the broadcast specs, IBM continues to support that same effort as well as the IT capabilities for the venue, and the retractable roof has been a source of fascination for civil engineers.
Turn the spotlight to performance application and you might wonder if the game is too loyal to tradition. The work being done on the court is all but removed from technological influence, noting the electronic line judges (used to determine ball locations as “in” or “out” on serves) as the only detectable influence of technology out there. However, there is one unique source of hope for performance tech enthusiasts out there… and they couldn’t ask for a better ally.
The rise of development support (both in hardware and software) for discrete forms of wearable technology – i.e. mobile hardware housed by intimate clothing and watches or bracelets – has sparked curiosity for the last 12 months. That curiosity started, for those in the world of athletics, with the release of the Nike+ FuelBand, a bracelet manned with a sports-tested accelerometer capable of tracking your daily activities related to motion and action. Teamed with desktop software and online utilities, the FuelBand offers users a full range of personal activity data collection, tracking, organization and (in some cases) analysis. Users simple touch one button and logging begins, and the data is there to be tracked and utilized as desired with various features available at download.
Nike has leveraged their most popular tennis commodity – Serena Williams – to promote FuelBand tech, an undeniably wise decision to spark immediate interest across one of the most active consumer groups (young, progressive females) in sports. She’s a game changer on the court and she’s changing the game via tech. Nike recently invited the bloggers from TennisRound.com to join Serena during a FuelBand-tracked workout session. It’s easy to see the technology has evolved since release, and it’s just as easy to envision where it might go (and who would pay to have it).
However, those watching Wimbledon might note Serena has been the ONLY tennis star out there sporting the tech during play. Pay particular attention to the wrists in action on the grass, review the images shared on the event’s site and those offered by major media providing coverage, watch the highlights on Tennis Channel and you’ll see there is one and only one star utilizing FuelBand during play. Considering Nike’s expansive list of celebrity sponsorship deals, putting their logo on the top talents in the game, and it seems odd to see them all without. Also, consider Nike isn’t the only option for wearable tech – FitBit and Jawbone both provide similar technological opportunities via bracelets – and the lack of presence at the sport’s most illustrious event surprises.
Austin Carr from Fast Company speculates the FuelBand strategy is not a coincidence, representing a new age in Nike advertising aimed at bridging the gap between traditional celebrity-driven campaigns and social media-driven crowdsourced opportunities. Armed with a software foundation built on data, Nike has been dedicated in promoting FuelBand as technology for everyone. CEO Tim Cook wears one every day and has spoken at length about his utilization, and the list of Nike celebrities seen with FuelBand in other sports is just as limited (including Kevin Durant in the NBA, Hope Solo in soccer and LeSean McCoy in the NFL). Carr pushes speculation further, noting trouble related to celebrities gone bad (Lance Armstrong and Oscar Pistorius) could be driving Nike’s desire to move away from broad netcasting for celebrity endorsements… and that FuelBand may be the first solution to move in that direction.
However, consider where the technology is today and it’s easy to understand a desire to temper today’s expectations… and it may point to the true reason for the lacking presence of FuelBand and other wearable technologies at Wimbledon in 2013.
FitBit and Jawbone are already established and funded as viable competitors in the space, but it’s respect achieved not through athletic advances but by offering a variety of features Nike does not (including sleep monitoring, social sharing and gamification, additional hardware options that are not bracelets, and wireless integration with other devices such as scales and smartphones). There is the potential for added concerns from pending competition at Under Armour, rumored to be working on similar offerings. If you think big picture, it might also be wise to add Apple to the list of competitors in the wearable market, honest in their desires to advance watch tech. While many in the dev community view watch tech as nothing more than an enhanced notification platform, it’s clear Nike is providing them with potential insight into advanced applications many traditional developers might overlook or miss… and Apple is never scared to pursue anything.
It may be true that Nike desires to broaden their marketing identity to include the everyday user, but it is just as true to suggest the technology and the market have yet to mature… for Nike or the competition. That is going to change quickly, and Nike is certainly in position to advance in that market as quickly as anyone, but rather than noting the lack of wearable tech at Wimbledon and the lack of FuelBands on Nike celebrities at Wimbledon as a surprise (as I did) or as a coordinated effort to change an established marketing persona (as Carr did)… it might be more honest to note Serena as the bridge between the lacking capability of wearable tech today and the vast potential of wearable tech tomorrow.
It might also be fair to say FuelBand is the only bracelet out there at Wimbledon this season, and that Nike has established their faith in the technology by ensuring it’s available and advanced by the best.