Last Friday 22nd October at 18.00GMT the Nike Grid opened in London. No this isn’t the new and improved NikeTown, Oxford Circus (which is radically behind schedule incidentally) it is a social running game that takes influence from FourSquare and marries it with the Matrix. Sounds awesome I hear you cry. Indeed it does, on paper at least.
Here is how it works – users log in through Facebook and set up a profile. You can run solo, as part of a team, region or university. In each London postcode there are a selection of branded phone boxes (hence the Matrix reference). You use these to start and finish your runs by calling a freephone number. Each player has a unique running code which you enter and badges are earned with a variety of different types of run (time of day, duration, special tasks etc). The grid is open for 15 days and the idea is to accrue as many points and badges for yourself or team. When I signed up for this I though it would be a brilliant way to inject some fun and competition into running with the advent of increasingly cold and dark London nights. Sadly the ‘Grid’ has not lived up to expectations and the subsequent conversations on their Facebook Wall Facebook Wall are not great.
The main problems break down as follows -
1. You cannot start a run in one postcode and finish in another. This is so frustrating as it would have been far more sensible to allow users to log runs all over London – many people are only running in their postcode which means an average of about a 10 minute run.
2. Some phone boxes don’t work. In my postcode N16 there are four boxes. Two of them don’t work. This means I have to start from one and finish at the only other one that works. Any run I plan has to factor this in which is a huge limitation and brings me on to my next point….
3. Some phone boxes are in really dodgy areas. Last night the ‘only other box’ I spoke of was in an area I wouldn’t go to in daylight let alone at 21.00. If I was a female I would have been uncomfortable running there at that hour. I considered turning back but the gamer in me craved the points!
4. The boxes are not always easy to find. This means you end up reaching for your phone to help. This is a hassle as it interrupts your run and, as highlighted in the previous point is the last thing you want to be doing in a dodgy area.
Despite its faults its not all bad. I think the idea itself is brilliant and if executed a little better could have been truly awesome. Ultimately, it highlights the difficulty with creative ideas that start digitally and involve a physical element. The Nike Grid phone boxes are all nicely branded with instructions on them, meaning when you do find them its clear what to do. The digital properties associated with the game are great as you would expect. Lovely design and the wall/community is well managed.
All things considered its a big challenge to nail something like this and more power to Nike for keeping on the cutting edge of whats possible – it has certainly got the runners of London talking one way or another.