Developing a seamless multi-medium and multi-step customer experience to maximise results

One thing that amazed me about the Olympics in 2012 (remember that?) was the expert commentary on the 100m sprint. For me, it was fascinating reading and hearing experts breaking down an event that happens in a flash (9.63 seconds for Usain Bolt’s 100m final winning run) into distinct component parts.

Now I’m no expert, but it seems that what appears to be a seamless burst of sheer speed and grace has at least four distinct parts. From what I can tell they are …

• The Start – reacting to the start gun and sweeping the trailing leg through to get the maximum thrust off the starting blocks
• Acceleration – accelerating to the athlete’s top speed
• Mid-race – maintaining that top speed for as long as possible and minimising the deceleration that occurs during this part of the race 
• The Finish – getting the leading edge of your torso over the line first (limbs, head and neck don’t count) – the lunge

Of course, the experts will know that there is a whole lot more – the stride, having a good muscle base, the need for a high concentration of fast twitch muscle fibres (now I am way out of my depth!). And that’s before we even consider diet, sports science and medicine, and things like sports psychology.

OK, so what’s the marketing point to all this?