week 6 . Catalog of Trajectories . February 2016
Operating Group is a hybrid creative consultancy working laterally between the realms of trend analysis, strategic design, fashion, architecture and urban policy. It was established in 2016 to process the muddled and underlying citizen/consumer expectations set in motion by the current rate of technological progress, and envision targeted responses and conceptual narratives told within the dominant language of possibility: “Consumer Fiction�. Operating Group deploys itself as an independent subsidiary working temporarily within a host organization: contextualizing goals, processing opportunities and initiating strategic models and cultural/commercial products. Its predictive and research-based reports are also made available for public and private consumption.
01
“JUST PATENT IT” Intellectual Property and Copyright Culture
02
CONSTANT GRATIFICATION Instant Gratification
03
QUANTIFIED SELF/LESS Tracking and Metrification
04 TRIGGER :) Productivity and Habit vs. Addiction 05 THE “MACHINE ZONE” The Convergence of Space, Time and Social Identity 06 RUN FOR YOUR LIFESTYLE The Culture and Ideology of Running 07
PRO-AM LOCAL The Rise of the Professional Amateur
08 ACTION ECONOMY Post-Capitalism and Consumers vs. Producers 09 COMMONS COURTESY Crowdfunding 10
BLAND ENDORSEMENTS Reputation Capital and Sponsorship
11
WTFringe Sub-Cultures
12
FAKE IS REAL Authenticity and Ratings Culture
Contents
“JUST PATENT IT”
01 “JUST PATENT IT�
Intellectual Property and Copyright Culture
Nike is moving away from products and increasingly operating like a Silicon Valley tech giant, patenting everything in its path to corner as of yet unknown future potential markets...
#CASHCOWS
fig. 1.1
As a business, the vast majority of Nike’s revenue comes from sales of the Air Jordan shoe line...
fig. 1.2
Nike uses this capital to fund R&D and has established the infrastructure of a parenting pipeline, being awarded far more patents than even its closest competitor by a margin of 10:1...
fig. 1.3
As the brand corners future markets through patenting, it could transition into a tech company attaining broader commerce in new fields.
CONSTANT GRATIFICATION
02 CONSTANT GRATIFICATION Instant Gratification
Runners could become earlier adopters of a new culture recognizing value in process, participation and active consciousness rather than in individual points in time; as such, they could become a prototype for the “future citizen�.
“These days, even instant gratification #CASHCOWS takes too long...”
fig. 2.1
There is a contemporary surge in the demand for increasingly ubiquitous “instant gratification”.
N
G
t
N
G
t
N
G
t
N
G
t
N
G
t
Need
N
G
t
Gratification
t
FROM INSTANT TO CONSTANT GRATIFICATION...
fig. 2.2
In opposition to this trend, a new type of behaviour has emerged where engagement in a cyclical procedure of action and gratification is more important than immediate reward.
RUNNERS AS EARLY-ADOPTERS
fig. 2.3
Members of the running community are early adopters of this new, divergent behaviour favouring constant rather than instant gratification; as such they could provide a model for a new kind of civic agent.
QUANTIFIED SELF/LESS
03 QUANTIFIED SELF/LESS Tracking and Metrification
Self-metrification is definitely a current trend, but moving forward it isn’t clear if the “quantitative” metrification of athletes will move into the general population, or if the athletes’ metrification process will become less quantitative and more qualitative...
FORMAL Metrification
INFORMAL Metrification
fig. 3.1
Currently there is a tension between formal metrics (point frequency and pure data) and informal metrics (experiential and social sharing).
THE BODY IS A DISEMBODIED PRODUCT
fig. 3.2
As people more heavily incorporate both formal and informal metrification into their lives, they becomes increasingly divorced from their physical sense of self; they begin to view their body as a “disembodied product�.
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
fig. 3.3
Moving forward, the pertinent is question is whether quantitative metrification becomes more qualitative, or will qualitative metrification become more quantitative?
TRIGGER :)
04 TRIGGER :)
Productivity and Habit vs. Addiction
Running is an addiction, and like other addictions it can be reinforced and encouraged. Its side side-effects are manifested through its “culture� (values & belief system of runners, leading to new habits)...
fig. 4.1
Habit formation and addiction both share a trigger than enables and/or distorts user behaviour.
fig. 4.2
The triggers for habits and addiction comes in a variety of schemas; all types could thus potentially be used as prompts to foster the activity of running.
fig. 4.3
The Spectrum between habit and addiction can be measured by the positive or negative impact of the associated behaviours. The methodology of running could become the template for positive addiction...
THE “MACHINE ZONE”
05 THE “MACHINE ZONE”
The Convergence of Space, Time and Social Identity You expect gambling addicts to care about winning, but they actually pursue a kind of trance-like focus (the “Machine Zone”) where time, space and social identity are suspended in the mechanical rhythm of a repeated process. Applied to running, this idea introduces a philosophical dimension to the activity...
THE MACHINE ZONE : time + space + social identity suspended in the mechanical rhythm of a repeated process
fig. 5.1
The “Machine Zone� is the suspension and coalescence of the time, space and social identity during a repeated protocol or activity.
GO WITH THE FLOW: “BE IN THE FLOW”
fig. 5.2
The Machine Zone is the ideal trace-like state to cultivate existential and metaphysical release or actualization.
SPIRITUAL EMPOWERMENT
SOCIAL CONTROL
fig. 5.3
The inherent tension in this mechanism is that it could function both as a process for spiritual empowerment or as a tool for social control; to what ends it is applicable?
RUN FOR YOUR LIFESTYLE
06 RUN FOR YOUR LIFESTYLE
The Culture and Ideology of Running
Running is a turning into an ideology and almost into a sectarian cult, with its own values, beliefs and culture which have been created in part by corporate advertising, but which are now taking on a life of their own...
SUPPLY THE DEMAND
fig. 6.1
As Nike almost single-handedly created the culture and market of “jogging�, they were able to directly monopolize the associated behaviours and consumers of the activity.
EXISTENTIAL SELF-ACTUALIZATION
fig. 6.2
This market segment then gained a life of its own, developing a complete suite of ideology, values and beliefs, all encapsulated in the lifestyle of running.
#ACTIVEWEAR
fig. 6.3
A key example is the phenomenon of ‘activewear’, where sports performance products have been co-opted into a projection of lifestyle, from brand-controlled to consumer defined.
PRO-AM LOCAL
07 PRO-AM LOCAL
The Rise of the Professional Amateur
The Pro-Am phenomenon has gone mainstream with the millennial generation. They are the perfect target audience for Nike’s offer which is “produced for local consumption”. The evolution of the trend needs to relate back to context with an added layer of authenticity.
Rise of the PRO-AM
fig. 7.1
The “Pro-Am� phenomenon is indigenous to the millennial generation where people become serious enough about their hobbies to highly research them, but without this expertise becoming all-encompassing.
Pro-Am Activities as Brand Zones
Mature Pro-Ams as Brand Skeptics
fig. 7.2
Pro-Ams should be encouraged to grow laterally in the brand environment to mitigate the brand skepticism present in more mature pro-ams and professionals.
PRO-AM
PRO-AM LOCAL
fig. 7.3
By incorporating a temporal and geographical localization into Pro-Am communities, Nike can benefit from the “terroir� and genuineness of a given user group.
ACTION ECONOMY
08 ACTION ECONOMY
Post-Capitalism and Consumers vs. Producers In the information economy, scarcity is not driven by actual information (not only abundant but overflowing) but by attention: the concept behind the “Attention Economy”. The evolution of this trend might be the “Action Economy”, exemplified by the convergence between consumers and producers.
“Action” Economy? (FUTURE)
Economy of Services
“Attention” Economy (NOW)
Information Economy Economy of Material Goods
fig. 8.1
In a post-capitalist and environment, focus shifts from material goods, to service, to information, to “attention” (the new scarcity).
PASSIVE
ACTIVE
“ACTIONABLE”
fig. 8.2
Attention is this new economy evolves from PASSIVE attention (advertising) to ACTIVE attention (omnichannel) to ACTIONABLE (call to action and active participation)...
ACTIVATED ENGAGEMENT
fig. 8.3
Encouraging active participation increases the adhesiveness of user engagement. What is the new value of “action”?
COMMONS COURTESY
09 COMMONS COURTESY Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding in architecture is gaining momentum, but this trend could actually be symptomatic of a broken system: what business do people have in paying for public buildings in other regions of the world, that they won’t use? What is the added-value of being a local stakeholder?
LOCAL Stakeholders
GLOBAL Stakeholders
fig. 9.1
By addressing local stakeholders rather than global investors, ownership is anchored in relationship with space rather than with speculative ROI.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
fig. 9.2
The crowdfunding model thus could becomes a form of sponsorship where “presence” is a currency with which runners can affect positive change in the urban realm.
PARTICIPATION
PROFIT
fig. 9.3
Currently unmonetized participation holds little value in crowdfunding, but could be made proportionally tied to profit.
BLAND ENDORSEMENTS
10 BLAND ENDORSEMENTS
Reputation Capital and Sponsorship
As a culture we are becoming more accustomed to branding and brand endorsement, and therefore these will have to evolve and adjust to new customer expectations. In the future relatability and authenticity may be more valuable status symbols than performance.
#LEBRON
fig. 10.1
The value of Nike’s current celebrity endorsements may not come from heavily branding the athlete’s identity, but from the implicit association made between the brand and that person.
#GEHL?
fig. 10.2
This creates the potential for new endorsements coming from lateral fields of association with the Nike brands, and from an ever widening spectrum.
Space SPONSORSHIP
Space ENDORSEMENT
fig. 10.3
If Nike becomes an increasingly important urban actor, could an expansion of its endorsement strategy include spaces, cities and territories?
WTFringe
11
WTFringe
Sub-Cultures
As running becomes a mainstream community, different sub-cultures emerge, which are instrumental to myth creation and brand authenticity. These sub-cultures are essential but unpredictable, resulting in varying degrees of brand volatility.
fig. 11.1
Product users align into affinity groups by style, behaviour and activity. These groups then form the ecosystem of subcultures within the Nike brand.
BRAND REPUTATION INSURGENCIES ACCESS (NOT OWNERSHIP)
fig. 11.2
Though Nike capitalizes on the authenticity and adherence of these subcultures to grow the brand, they do not control the reputational capital of these groups and have limited access to it.
BRAND INSURGENCIES
fig. 11.3
What would happen is the states of the Nike empire were to rebel against the brand capital?
FAKE IS REAL
12 FAKE IS REAL
Authenticity and Ratings Culture
As a brand’s reputation increases, counterfeiting of its products can be formal (copied by competitors) or informal (reproduced clandestinely). Wearing counterfeited goods is an attempt to emulate the lifestyle the brand projects; the brand thus benefits from the authenticity generated by this cycle.
REPUTATION GENERATION
fig. 12.1
The current generation has been strongly impacted by the proliferation of reputation capital and ratings culture.
CLOSE ENOUGH...
fig. 12.2
The approximation of Nike’s brand identity in counterfeited items is ‘close enough’ to real products for users to feel like they are part of the projected lifestyle of the brand.
fig. 12.3
By the virtue of counterfeiting, the brand gains authenticity as product users become more obsessively skillful at distinguishing between real and fake.
Operating Group is:
Nicolay Boyadjiev nicolay.boyadjiev@gmail.com
Andrea Savard-Beaudoin andreasavardb@gmail.com
Mark-Henry Decrauzac henri.decrausaz@gmail.com
operatingroup.tumblr.com