NIKE Marketing Strategy

Daphne Wong

Marketing Strategy matters for the whole world in this media-leading world. How the marketer brands the products would affect the perception of a product tremendously, and for the products which was found to have defects (particularly those in worldwide product safety scandals), re-marketing is extremely important to re-build customter's confidence. In some cases, when the celebrities starring in the advertisements and commercials get involved in scandals and negative reports, the advertisers would simply change the celeb representative to one with "better image". In other words, the image of celeb is directly linked to the brand, and the marketers would do whatever they can to stay away from the alleged scandalous icon.

Liu Xiang has been the hero of China now, and before his injury in 2008. During his rehabilitation, although supports was there, many in the noisy China did condemn him for his absence in the glorious Beijing Olympic, the first Olympic ever held in China. Throughout his ups and downs, Nike, an American sportswear company, openly supported him and reminded the Chinese population of the importance of Sportsmanship. This marketing strategy indeed created a positive image for Nike and for Liu Xiang.

Let's review the marketing strategy before his injury, during rehabilitation and after he had recovered now.

BEFORE INJURY

AFTER INJURY

TODAY, CELEBRATING HIS RETURN

Rwanda Genocide in 1994 (Part 2) - The War

Daphne Wong

In the first article in the Rwanda Genocide series, the overwhelming power of the Tutsis in Burundi has swept the country for twenty years, leaving the already poor country almost paralysed. Rwanda, however, did not learn from the experience of its neighbour. Indeed, history was allowed to repeat in 1994.

IMMEDIATE CAUSE

The conflicts between Tutsis and Hutus were accumulated as the war between the two ethnic groups outside the border got worse. Also, the serious discrimination of Hutus by the Tutsi-dominated government under Juvénal Habyarimana's regime (since 1973) made reconciliation even harder. In April 1994, Habyarimana was assasinated. Then, the extremist Hutus started the three-month long massacre of Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus, also named as the "Rwanada Genocide".

THE WAR

What happened in the first stage of genocide movement had proved that the War was not just a provocated act out of cumulated rage. The War was planned, right from the beginning. First, the armed force who was responsible for the killing had been formulated in a systematic manner that every 10 families in Rwanda would be targeted by 1 militia member. The weapons had also been well-prepared that once filing a requisition form, the army could get an AK-47 assault rifle. These are manifestation of a premediated mass killing of peoples.

Until mid-July, a death toll of 800,000 people had been reported. The organizers, who were mostly top government officials and military leaders, manipulated the mass media and broadcasted anti-Tutsi speeches around the nation. The organizers even encouraged and openly recruited men to join their force, with attractive incentive of food and drugs. An organized capture, raping and killing of the Tutsis and moderate Hutus was carried out until July, when the heat of massacre was cooled down by the death toll and political powers gained by the Hutu.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES

(To be continued)

Enough with the fake "reality show"

Daphne Wong

There are countless reality shows in the world which are marketed as depicting the real emotions of you and me. For example, and that aims to capture the fear and bravery of normal citizens. Some even pushes the limit, such as , where couples are separated and set up to flirtings with other participants of opposite sex. The hottest genre of reality show in this decade must be competitions --- be it singing contest or modeling competition, the ultimate goal of producers are basically showing the participants' human side. They prefer cryings, arguings and confession. The more noises it can arouse among the audience, the more valuable the participant is to the TV Station, and hence, the bigger chance they can stay in the show.

THE UPRISE
The uprise of Reality Shows can be attributed to the audience's growing discontent with the "educational" TV shows that do nothing but create an unreal harmonious picture of the society. It was a brand new ideas for most people and the citizens starring at the show were able to demonstrate the normal lives of most people. It was the genuinity that draws many back to the TV again.

However, as the number of reality shows rocketed, the theme and contents of reality shows reach the bottleneck. Audience would be bored because afterall, the "citizen" participants are not professional in entertaining audience. The producers therefore have to create some entertaining elements into the show, including arguments and emotional scenes. Thus, the fake reality shows resulted.

FAKE REALITY SHOW
Sometimes, the entertaining elements become the "selling points" of the show and even dominated most of the time. In "America's Next Top Model", the 1st episode (screening) must be about how the girls talk about each other in a mean way or how the judges laugh at the ugliness or awkwardness of the girls. Provided that US is a multicultural and multiethnical country, the girls with different ethnic origins must discriminate against each other and have serious arguments. Those are the spicings to the "boring" (to some) first round interviews. Basically, the perfect formula of good audience rating would be: Bitching + Lesbian crush + Discrimination (against background or ethnicity or sex orientation or personal habits) + Quarrels + Crying + Illnesses (the model contracted skin diseases, or passed away during photo shootings.) + Mental Breakdown.

HOW DO THEY CONNECT TO OUR LIVES?
The fake reality shows provide the chance for a "nobody" to become a star, in one hour.

As YOUTUBE, FACEBOOK and many BLOG SERVICE PROVIDERS are crowned as the most influential inventions that change the lives of millions on earth, the trend of publicizing personal private lives has grown even higher. Youngsters open their own radio station -- podcast and be the DJs, talking about personal affairs which not many would be interested. They express their emotions through their blogs, sometimes over-exaggerating the seriousness of ups and downs. They build their own blogging network so that whenever they visit the blogmates' page, they have to leave a footprint, which is important for "rating" and personal satisfaction. All these portals did not, in most cases, improve teenagers' thinking on social affairs nor writing, but rather encourage them to be individualistic and self-absorbed.

The aforesaid can be the background of the following argument, and the reality shows can also be the background for the individualism stated above. Anyway, the fake reality shows have satisfied the needs of this i-AGE to voice their ideas and perform themselves on TV. Imitating their predecessors, they want to have a character that people would remember, even if that means they have to be dramatic, outspoken and get themselves enemies. The one-hour programme is everything for the i-AGE to impress strangers. They want to be famous, get their online creation published and be popular. That is why the producers can still get people to willingly be the "actors" in reality shows.


WHAT HAPPENED IN HK?
In Hong Kong, the long singing contests organized and broadcasted by the two free TV channels have been the subject of discussion for many. "The Voice" of TVB was criticized for its arbitrary rating by inexperienced, unprofessional judges. In the first 5 episodes, TVB simply wanted to boost the audience rating. So many famous singers were invited to be the MC or even guest judge. The participants become casual and focuses on showing their "humour" instead of singing techniques after a few weeks. Those who were eliminated must cry in front of the camera as if some members of their family have died. The extremely unprofessional yet entertaining reality show was contrasted with ATV's production, "Asian Million Star".

In "Asian Million Star", the focus on singing techniques and performance skills has made the show extremely enlightening and educational for many. The progress and great achievements made by participants are also successful elements of the show. When any of the participants was eliminated, the sincerity of other particpants, MCs and also judges touched the audience. This genuinity was already rare in today's "reality show business".

CONCLUSION
Finally, the author would like to conclude by showing the two dramatic scenes in Britain and US, both from the "XX's got talent" franchise. As the Chinese saying goes, Audience, your eyes must be clear.

Britain's Got Talent: Susan Boyle


America's Got Talent: Donald Braswell

Rwanda Genocide in 1994 (Part 1) – Background of Conflicts

Daphne Wong

THE Rwanda Genocide in 1994 was a history that has shocked the international community, and which posed a question on the safety of international humanitarian aids. 15 years from now, a review of the incident is presented.

BACKGROUND: THREE ETHNICITIES

In Rwanda, there are three main ethnicities: Twa (1% of Rwanda population), Tutsi (13%) and Hutu (84%). Twa is the indigenous inhabitants of the Central Africa and is now a poverty-driven minority in Central Africa. By 2007, begging was the main source of income for 40% of Twa population in Rwanda.

The Tutsis and Hutus have been the two ethnicities in conflict for decades. Although the three ethnicities in Rwanda have no significant differences in their languages, cultures and appearance, it has been social class that divides them. Most of the upper class rulers of Rwanda had been Tutsis until 1959.

COLONIAL TIMES: “RUANDA-URUNDI”

“Ruanda-Urundi” consists of Rwanda and Burundi, one of the ten poorest countries in the world. It was a colony of Germany before World War I, and that of Belgium after Germany’s defeat. When Germany was the sovereign, only Tutsis were allowed to receive education and the rights to participate in the government. A strict hierarchy of people based on their ethnicity was promoted. Provided that Hutus were the overwhelming majority of the population, the policy clearly had buried the seed of the preceding events and the ongoing ethnic tension.

In 1959, Belgium allowed universal suffrage and participation of the Hutus in the government. In Rwanda, Hutu leaders overthrew the Tutsi monarchy. In Burundi, the Tutsi leader pushed for independence. Hutus refugees fled to Rwanda to avoid persecution, where there were mass killings of Tutsis by Hutus. In Burundi, the Tutsi soldiers killed the Hutus civilians in return as a vengeance.

In 1962, Rwanda was separated from Burundi. Burundi was ruled by Tutsis and Rwanda was ruled by Hutus.

ESCALATION OF CONFLICTS

Since 1970s, after the massacre of Tutsi civilians initiated by Hutu radicals in Burundi, a campaign of "selective genocide" was started by the Tutsi ruling government in Burundi. The genocide was "selective" in the sense that the targets were mainly Hutus political aspirations and "seemingly" educated Hutus.

In 1990s three democratically elected Hutu Presidents were assassinated. Some of the assassination was even conducted by the Burundi military. It was estimated that about 250,000 Hutus were killed and about 150,000 became asylum-seekers from 1962 to 1993.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES

The international community was silent to the serious crime against humanity. In fact, no African leader gave public statements against the massacres nor sought to involve the UN or the Organization of African Unity (OAU). There was not a single intervention, international sanction or even reports by the UN until 1996, as evidenced in the UN Security Council.

AFTER THE GENOCIDE, WHAT WAS LEFT?

The genocide of 1972 did not receive the international concerns it deserve. Even worse, the two-decade genocide in Burundi was answered by Rwanda with the killings of Tutsis in 1994.

(To be continued)