Our goal in developing the app for the adidas Football Business Unit was to generate individual video highlights in amateur football. The app should allow players to track, compare and analyze their performance. It should support coaches and players through advanced sports technology. The app needed to accurately measure movements and kicks to track key performance metrics such as kicking speed and sprinting speed.
As a Product Manager, I was faced with the challenge of developing an app when the adidas football business unit had no established agility or digital processes. A particular challenge was transferring solutions from the professional sector to a consumer application, including technologies such as IoT and GoPros. This required adaptation to the needs and capabilities of amateur football and was a major hurdle.
The solution to the challenges of developing the adidas Business Unit Football App was a comprehensive networking of IoT, hardware and sensor technology. This successful project met high technical integration requirements.
The result was a unique customer experience for amateur footballers, allowing them to experience the atmosphere of professional football. The app provided an exceptional staging opportunity that positioned adidas as an innovator in the digital space and underscored its market leadership.
The product created positive brand perception, increasing brand awareness among soccer enthusiasts and reinforcing adidas' image as a pioneer in digital sports technology.
The approach to developing the app for the adidas Soccer business unit involved a product manager from IT Innovation who acted as a liaison with the business unit and reported directly to the Innovation Director. He also coordinated the agencies involved.
The process included extensive research and product validation to derive a sound product concept. In the area of IoT, parallel project management was carried out with the Football, IT Innovation and Marketing business units and a Google hardware partner to plan the first MVP release in the fan zones during the 2016 European Championships.
During the development of the app, the expertise of the adidas digital teams was integrated and supported by agile coaching. This was followed by further product growth testing for continuous improvement and adaptation to user needs.
