Decathlon : Performance sports vision

Strategic Prospective Workshop and design of proposition

Client

Decathlon

Intervention

Strategy

Year

2021

Location

Lille

Envisioning the future of connected performance sports

NoDesign assisted Decathlon in preparing, facilitating and summarising a forward-looking workshop entitled “Vision for Connected Performance Sports,” which brought together more than 70 employees, managers, executives and sports ambassadors. The aim of this seminar was to engage discussion within Decathlon teams about the opportunities offered by digital technology for the brand in performance sports*. Over two consecutive days, a series of collaborative workshops provided an opportunity to listen to bring together and align employees from different backgrounds in order to understand the strategic challenges facing Decathlon and define a vision of what a connected sports performance offering could be like.

Inspire to explore, align, create.

To begin these research workshops, Jean-Louis Frechin from NoDesign gave a presentation exploring the challenges and opportunities NeoObjects introduced in the field of sport, illustrated by a large technological and anthropological research on the subject. To round out this wide overview, NoDesign invited three experts: François Bellanger (Transit-City) spoke about contemporary perceptions of sport and the evolution of our relationship with performance. Eric Carrel (Withings) shared his experience in health data management and related services. Finally, Romain Pinguet (physical therapist) presented his expertise on issues related to re-athletization and injury prevention for competitive athletes.

A tailor-made card game to activate collective intelligence

Following these inspiring presentations, a card game specifically designed for the occasion by NoDesign was used to gather employees' knowledge and vision of Decathlon's connected performance sports offering and transform it into possible, desirable, or attractive proposals.

A strategic and operational deliverable

From these exchanges of ideas and perspectives during the two-day workshop, NoDesign produced a structured, concise, and illustrated deliverable setting out a strategic vision for Decathlon. This included a catalog of short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations, as well as a collection of actions to develop a digital platform and define consistent offerings for the brand in the field of performance sports.

* The term “performance sports” covers disciplines ranging from triathlon, athletics and swimming to cycling and road running or off-road running (mountain biking/trail running).