Social Listening: Nike

I chose to write about Nike and what people are saying about the company because I've always loved the brand Nike and the inspiration Phil Knight "the Creator of Nike" has put upon his core customers, so the situation seems really interesting to me. Nike is backing up one of the most polarizing figures in America. A San Francisco 49ers quarter back Colin Kaepernick. He is supposed to be one of the faces for the 30th Nike commemoration anniversary of the iconic "Just Do IT" slogan and customers are angry and re-phrasing the slogan to "Just Don't Do It"

In 2016 Colin Kaepernick played his last season as a 49ers quarterback and hasn't played since because he began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality. Nike is betting that customers will support his protest, or at least so they hoped. The company also believes that the companies brand can withstand criticism from conservatives including the white house. In a way the company is right because their value proposition stands strong in the fact that people will continue to purchase the brand whether they destroy it, burn it, or just plain buy it to love it even though the faculties of what's going on politically. Nike believes by siding with Kaepernick they can sell because he sells himself. By making him the face of the 30th  commemoration anniversary of "Just Do It"  Nike thinks that it will earn support from their core customers and young shoppers in big cities across the globe. People are furious to think how could such a great company stand up for a person who kneels during the national anthem. When it is considered a disgrace to do so, when your supposed to stand up in support of our country to solute to the many warriors who have fallen and risked their lives for our nation and the many lives that are in it.

Nike has defined its brand around star endorsers, which whom are mostly dark complected. The company spends close to $3.5 million dollars on advertising and endorsement deals to publicly back Kaepernick and donate to his foundation which aims to fight oppression of all kinds. When companies link their brands close to a sponsor, they create a risk. But Nike knows that their Athletes wear their brand and not vise- versa. They have shown repeatedly the Athletes are stable and marketing savvy. Although, the marketing challenge they're facing is in fact that they are steering away from heroism and focusing political issues. Most of Nike's consumers know that Nike uses emotional branding techniques of heroism to inspire incredible customer loyalty all over the world.

If I was Phil Knight, I wouldn't want to put my company at risk no matter how political as a way to better market my brand in what I think is the better good. I wouldn't allow my company to over step me to make harmful decisions that could possibly damage the company or others by supporting a opinionated statement that shouldn't involve my brand. Nike may be one of the most popular brands world wide but that can all change in the blink of an eye.

The Sony Car

Sony, "the consumer electronics maker" is hitting the road "literally". When you think of Sony, you think of one of the largest electronic entertainment companies in the world. Could they actually build a car? Yes, yes they can and they did!  The "Vision-S Concept Car is a Sony car through and through, showing off Sony's wide range of technology. 

When I researched the "Vision-S concept car" I started thinking, yes they can build the electronics for the car but no way are they able to build the car platform and why would they want to? What caught my interest after watching a video about the Vision -S concept car by Ryan Barwick, is not only can Sony's wide range of technology take the car to the next level in entertainment, but it was fascinating their focus on "Safety" using their technology both inside and outside the car.

Sony's headline read "Sony builds a car that will probably never get mass produced".  After reading the article and watching the video I didn't really agree with the headline and I'll tell you why.

Sony knew their technology can and is used in technology features on the inside of cars, but why would they want to use someone else's platform.  Sony wanted to show they can build a car from the ground up, showing off their sensor technology, camera technology, what they are doing in terms of safety today and in the future.

The car has some really great features for instance the car can detect its surroundings, connect with the people who drive it, responds to your motions and monitors the wellness of your driving to alert you incase of falling asleep at the wheel. Sony collaborated with an auto manufacturer "Magna Steyr" to build an electric vehicle called the Vision-S. The car comes equipped with the top of the line Sony technology.

The problem is, is that the company is afraid the car wont get mass produced because of the fact that Sony makes TVs, not cars. To me stranger things have happened in this world and have made a great outcome. I feel the car needs to be marketed with not only the technology it presents but all the safety features this car will have. I'm afraid that's why the worry of the car not being massed produced is because of the fact the car is made by a entertainment company leading people to believe the car wont function as a reliable daily driver. The first steps to take is to put this car through the ultimate tests and make people believe. Make people believe that this car can be the next Tesla if not better. The value proposition this company has is that if people believe in the power of their technology, they'll believe in this car and the safety features it has to offer.

https://youtu.be/j1RAdaSFWkM

https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/sony-built-a-car-that-will-probably-never-get-mass-produced/

About Me

Howdy everyone!

 My name is Ryan Vanderyacht. I was born on January 16th 1998. I'll be 22 in 7 days (low key pretty excited about it😁) but still have no idea what I am doing for my birthday. May just work, go home and chill with my twelve dogs. Oh, did I forget to mention that I live on a farm and literally have twelve dogs! Technically I have five dogs to my self and my mom has the rest but still, sometimes I feel like I'm going insane. Especially when I get from people "whoa you have twelve dogs"? Yes, yes I do! In all reality I love all of my animals and aside from going partially insane part of the time they are apart of the family and always will be!

  I love spending time with family and friends, along with the many farm animals I have at home. I Work at a Wilco farm store. My hobby is demolition derby which is another form of racing but more action packed and my favorite thing to do is go on adventures whether it be to the coast, to the mountains or flying to places like Greece. Basically you could say I love to travel! Some of my greatest memories were traveling all around in an RV with my grandpa every summer.

My goal in life is to be successful in the marketing career path I'm on and to ultimately be happy!