Adidas jumping into Blue Oceans feet first

“When companies are willing to challenge the functional emotional orientation of their industry, they often find new market space... Emotionally oriented industries offer many extras that add price without enhancing functionality. Stripping away those extras may create a fundamentally simpler, lower-priced, lower-cost business model that customers would welcome. Conversely, functionally oriented industries can often infuse commodity products with new life by adding a dose of emotion and, in so doing, can stimulate new demand.” (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 70)

Embracing the principles of Blue Ocean Strategy, iconic German footwear- and sports gear-maker Adidas is challenging the functional-emotional appeal of its industry with the opening of its new Innovation Center and store on Paris' Champs-Elysées. A recent Business Week article describes just how Adidas is reconstructing market boundaries by reaching out to buyers’ emotional sides:

Design Appreciation and Innovation. The high-tech “cube” store is a full-on sensory experience which, across all facets, showcases Adidas’ dedication to Innovation.

Entertainment Factor. Built-in games, gadgetry and entertainment features make shopping for, and customizing, an Adidas shoe fun. "When people are shopping they don't want to learn…They want to be entertained," says Heinrich Paravicini, the director of Mutabor.

True Customization. Using Star Trek-like technologies, Adidas enables visitors to create customized shoes and “try” them on for size.

Creating Repeat Buyers. Can’t make it to Paris each time you wish to buy a new pair of Adidas shoes? Adidas stores your personalized foot measurements so that you can apply them to new trends later. As Fiona Fairhurst, director of Zero Point Zero One, says: “If you know that Adidas fits you perfectly and comfortably then they have a customer for life."

Adidas says the Paris store is just part of its rollout to major cities around the world, including Beijing just in time for the 2008 Olympics. With Adidas charting this new course, it’s joining the ranks of industry leaders like Swatch, the Swiss watchmaker and Cemex, the Mexican cement manufacturer, who have greatly elevated the emotional appeal of traditionally more functional products, and created Blue Ocean market spaces.