Word: nike
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Nike swung into action even before most Chinese knew they had a new hero. The moment hurdler Liu Xiang became the country's first Olympic medalist in a short-distance speed event--he claimed the gold with a new Olympic record in the 110-m hurdles on Aug. 28--Nike launched a television advertisement in China showing Liu destroying the field and superimposed a series of questions designed to set nationalistic teeth on edge. "Asians lack muscle?" asked one. "Asians lack the will to win?" Then came the kicker, as Liu raised his arms above the trademark Swoosh...
Such clever marketing tactics have helped make Nike the icon for the new China. According to a recent Hill & Knowlton survey, Chinese consider Nike the Middle Kingdom's "coolest brand." Just as a new Flying Pigeon bicycle defined success when reforms began in the 1980s and a washing machine that could also scrub potatoes became the status symbol a decade later, so the Air Jordan--or any number of Nike products turned out in factories across Asia--has become the symbol of success for China's new middle class. Sales rose 66% last year, to an estimated $300 million...
...Foreign-made refrigerators are displacing Haier as the favorite in China's kitchens. Chinese dress in their baggiest jeans to sit at Starbucks, which has opened 100 outlets and plans hundreds more. China's biggest seller of athletic shoes, Li Ning, recently surrendered its top position to Nike, even though Nike's shoes--upwards of $100 a pair--cost twice as much. The new middle class "seeks Western culture," says Zhang Wanli, a social scientist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Nike was smart because it didn't enter China selling usefulness, but selling status...
...well do marketing messages work on young kids? Market researchers find kids can identify brands from something like 18 months old. Some brand logos are better known than almost anything else: the Golden Arches, Mickey Mouse, the Nike swoosh...
...Grand Slam takes talent and drive. To attempt it in a denim mini-skirt and knee-high black gaitors takes ample body confidence and--let's face it--unique taste. SERENA WILLIAMS' custom Nike duds (she removed the shin guards before play) at the U.S. Open last week were just the boldest in a long line of fashion statements by the would-be glamazon of tennis. She has served some winners--like a flappy white skirt at Wimbledon this year--but also some line-ball calls, like the catsuit of the 2002 U.S. Open. "I always considered myself...