adidas and Smartrac: Smart products that make a hot brand even hotter
adidas and Smartrac: Smart products that make a hot brand even hotter
Theme Move
When adidas presented Telstar 18, the Official Match Ball for the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia in early November 2017, it introduced the first-ever match ball to feature an embedded NFC tag – Smartrac’s Circus Flex. That announcement is the perfect opportunity for Smartrac to explain how it has become a strong partner in supporting adidas’ NFC-related activities.
As a company, adidas owns one of world’s most iconic brands and, despite its great reputation, works tirelessly in a very competitive arena to continuously evolve that brand through design and innovation. That’s why the sports apparel giant has entered the new territory of making its products smart through Near-Field Communication (NFC) – with the support of one of the global leaders in adding intelligence to products – Smartrac.
Evolving customer experience with NFC
On the occasion of the Telstar 18 product launch, Roland Rommler, Football Hardware Category Director at adidas, said that, together with a new panel structure, NFC technology “has taken football innovation and design to a new level, offering both consumers and players a completely new experience.” In its press release, adidas’ stated that NFC “enables consumers to interact with the ball using a smartphone. Upon interaction – which involves a simple tap of a mobile device against the NFC touch-point on the ball – each ball generates a unique identifier, unlocking exclusive content and information for the user”.
