The World is Your Parking Lot

In 1964 Phil Knight started selling shoes from the trunk of his car at local track meets. Each sale was to an individual. Each individual had a chance to engage with the man behind the brand, to hold the shoes in their hands, to ask questions and to transact right there in the parking lot.

That trunk, that parking lot, that direct interaction between creator and consumer has shaped their DNA. It’s reflected in the way they speak about their past and how they envision their future.

And it’s reflected in their actions.

Before the Apple store, there was Niketown- which is essentially a fancy version of Phil Knight’s trunk. And in recent years, they’ve moving more and more product and marketing dollars in the direction reestablishing this direct connection with customers. From a recent profile:

Just try to recall the last couple of Nike commercials you saw on television. Don’t be surprised when you can’t. Nike’s spending on TV and print advertising in the U.S. has dropped by 40% in just three years, even as its total marketing budget has steadily climbed upward to hit a record $2.4 billion last year.

Gone is the reliance on top-down campaigns celebrating a single hit — whether a star like Tiger Woods, a signature shoe like the Air Force 1, or send-ups like Bo Jackson’s ‘Bo Knows’ commercials from the late ‘80s that sold the entire brand in one fell Swoosh. In their place is a whole new repertoire of interactive elements that let Nike communicate directly with its consumers, whether it’s a performance-tracking wristband, a 30-story billboard in Johannesburg that posts fan headlines from Twitter, or a major commercial shot by an Oscar-nominated director that makes its debut not on primetime television but on Facebook.

This is the past and the future. A return to the parking lot enabled by tools that scale reach and amplify authenticity.

The parking lot level sets the playing field between large incumbents and scrappy startups. Neither can fake it when barriers to interaction and transaction are removed. This is more than a twitter account, a company blog or a trouble ticketing system. This is building durable communities of empowered employees and committed customers.

Grab your spot. Pop the trunk. Let’s go.