Activities perceived as fun are accomplished with much higher performance and ambition. Therefore gamification is currently one of the hottest topics in the IT world – but what exactly is gamification and how does the adidas Group get involved in order to make use of this idea? Gamification can be described as the adaption of game mechanics and game thinking in non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging. In order to encourage people to utilize applications, IT developers are trying to “gamify”. One of the conclusions therefore is that game design can also be utilized outside of the gaming world.

Examples of this are adidas’ new miCoachmiCoach is an adidas product category that has been created to offer consumers of all levels personal coaching with training programmes designed by the world’s top coaches. miCoach aims to make the user a better athlete, regardless of the sport. applications that engage both runners and football players by coaching not only themselves but a virtual avatar in parallel. Real training efforts are transferred to the avatar. The user then is able to play a minigame – but watch out! The avatar gains his power and energy from the user’s training efforts and then competes against other players. Training data can then be analyzed and compared with friends, followers, and even some of the top football players in the world. You may have read about this new app in the interview about Interactivity with Simon Drabble (Director of the miCoachmiCoach is an adidas product category that has been created to offer consumers of all levels personal coaching with training programmes designed by the world’s top coaches. miCoach aims to make the user a better athlete, regardless of the sport. business unitBusiness Unit (BUBusiness Unit (BU) is an organisation within the company which unites various business functions which are all relevant to a specific market segment. At the adidas Group, BUs are suborientated to the individual brands. Business Units at the adidas Group include BU Basketball, BU Swim or BU Football.) is an organisation within the company which unites various business functions which are all relevant to a specific market segment. At the adidas Group, BUs are suborientated to the individual brands. Business Units at the adidas Group include BUBusiness Unit (BU) is an organisation within the company which unites various business functions which are all relevant to a specific market segment. At the adidas Group, BUs are suborientated to the individual brands. Business Units at the adidas Group include BU Basketball, BU Swim or BU Football. Basketball, BUBusiness Unit (BU) is an organisation within the company which unites various business functions which are all relevant to a specific market segment. At the adidas Group, BUs are suborientated to the individual brands. Business Units at the adidas Group include BU Basketball, BU Swim or BU Football. Swim or BUBusiness Unit (BU) is an organisation within the company which unites various business functions which are all relevant to a specific market segment. At the adidas Group, BUs are suborientated to the individual brands. Business Units at the adidas Group include BU Basketball, BU Swim or BU Football. Football. at adidas).

In the near future, game mechanics will be integrated into many consumer-facing services like mobile applications, innovative retail concepts and eCommerceElectronic commerce stands for business transactions conducted on the internet. . However, gamification is not only interesting when it comes to consumer-facing services. Considering the relatively low average age of our employees (currently approx. 33 years), we see great potential in “gamifying” internal processes and tools without losing any of the requirements a tool or program should have. In the near future, game elements will be found in many applications and there are a lot of things consumers and adidas Group employees can look forward to.

What are your ideas about how to merge sports and the digital space through gamification?