Nike, as a household name in the U.S or even around the world, conducts a pretty good job of constructing its brand images. Although from time to time, serval negative impacts stroke Nike a hard punch, it still maintains its own brand reputation of the company, especially on speak up for minority groups of people. So today, Let’s talk about how it is that even possible for such a huge band to ensure its reputation within this crazy network storm.
So Let’s start with the keywords research, shall we? Speaking about Nike, what will be the first keywords jump into your thought? There are probably lots of them such as CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), brave, sneakers, athletes, sport wears, racial issues e.g. After we list out those keywords, do anything relative to news or messages date back from your experience? In my aspect of view, here are something I found interesting that connects back to the keywords above:
Nike made a great change in making its shoes, this time Nike made shoes, not for superstars on the court, it made shoes for the superhero who help to save lives – nurses. These shoes are more comfortable and purposeful to help nurses getting away from common conditions like plantar fasciitis. Most importantly, 100% of the profits from those shoes will be donated directly to OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon.
Nike was seeking designers to deliver a unique design on the company’s classic sneaker. University of Minnesota student Taoheed Bayo who came from Nigerian participated in this competition. He reached back to his Nigerian roots for inspiration, designing a shoe that could be his legacy. For the shoe material, he chose suede leather as the representing of Africans can endure time and numerous situations.
A fan took to social media to communicate to La Flame and the Nike camp his perspective on the authentic fan of Travi Scott feeling not able to purchase the shoe collaboration of their idol. Nike and Travis Scott team decided to send a free pair of the shoe to the fan.
Okay, after reviewing all the news above, finding anything in common? That’s right, they are all positive news to Nike! Let’s set aside from the “sweatshop” issues, do you find yourself that it is rare to receive negative images from Nike through internet or media, right? The reason why Nike did a great job of creating good images to the public not only because it really spends millions of money on creating a good CSR, but spent money on securing any “controllable information” that could impact the brand ideas. I am not saying you should spend millions of dollars on this subject too. My point is: you should be really careful about every message you sent out to the public, even one small flaw can create a chain reaction by the “power” of people who like to be picky about anything – Haters. Remember, the internet is a two-sided sword, it can bring you huge benefits, but it also can crash your works overnight!
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