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The greatest challenge for the vast majority of runners to get out there and stay active is motivation. Every other running watch is overloaded with complicated data, but all the data in the world doesn’t make it any easier. The Apple Watch Nike+ was designed to be different. The watch, now phone free, focuses on a run experience that’s just what you need. The design is essentially Nike and every message is designed to motivate and inspire, always keeping the app, monthly stats, and going on a run just one tap away.

The app is all about getting out of the way. Just tap and run. Need an extra push? You can see how you stack up with your friends. A creature of habit? Try to match your last run. It also lets you schedule a run, recognizes your progress, and works with Siri.

The real challenge of the execution was to create an entirely new type of running experience in an entirely new product: The Apple Watch Nike+. We worked hand-in-hand with Nike, Apple and cross-functional development teams. The design is essentially Nike… bold, active, and focused on sport. While most running watches suffer from an overload of complicated data, we focused our design on simplicity, creating the first running watch for the average -- not the Olympic runner. The idea and the aesthetic started with the watch itself, but informed advertising, OOH, digital experiences and a video series with Kevin Hart.

• In the first 5 months from launch, the Nike+ community has gained 190K new users through the Apple Watch Nike +

• From a base of 750K Active Users, on average 75% are coming back week after week to up their run game.

Nike has had considerable success encouraging people to run through the world’s largest running community, digital platform Nike+. However, it’s a universal truth that everyone’s first few runs suck. Research with beginner runners revealed not only physical, but emotional hardship; the loneliness and lack of motivation that comes from running solo.

Experienced runners will always need data, so Nike+ user data helped us pare back the stats to the essential; those that need to be accessed quickly. However, for beginner runners, data isn’t as meaningful or motivating. Qual research and Nike+ data identified additional opportunities for simple emotional engagement; ways to nudge (the daily CTA ‘Are we Running today?’), and keep them running through a sense of community (Just Do It Sundays, born from the observation that people who run on Sundays are more active for the rest of the week, with 5K the most popular distance.)

Part of a decade long partnership with Nike, we have been building out the Nike+ ecosystem, helping create the worlds largest running community. Fueled by a burgeoning relationship with Apple, Nike wanted to take their community from tens of millions of runners to hundreds of millions and get people who hate running to hate it a little less. Introducing Apple Watch Nike+.