FIRST YOU TUBE VIDEO!!

So today was my first time experimenting with my digital camera to create a You Tube video. I recorded some QU students' reactions to the new Nike ad featuring Tiger Woods as well as the Saturday Night Live spoof of the ad. For my first time I don't think I did half bad :) . . . . let me know what you think

Tiger Trouble Continues for Nike...

As much as I am so sick of hearing and talking about the Tiger Woods crisis and its effects on Nike this semester, I really feel as though I can't let this week go by without posting about Nike's new ad featuring Tiger Woods, which coincided with Tiger's return to golf at the Master's Tournament.

I'm sure by now just about everyone has seen the actual ad itself--or the SNL spoof, which I posted below--which features the voice of Earl Woods, Tiger's father who passed away in 2006. The solemn image of Tiger's faced has been plastered on the news, internet, newspapers and magazines for days now--and there has also been lots of chatter on Facebook and blogs revealing that many people have VASTLY different views on the ad.


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Here is just one example of the extensive coverage the story received on ABC's Good Morning America!

When I asked students around campus the reviewed were mixed. Some said they were outraged at how Nike seems to exploit Tiger Woods' return to golf and his relationship with his late father. Others said they weren't surprised because sensational advertising has been typical of Nike for years now and they didn't expect anything less after the very sensationalized Woods scandal.

Personally, the first time I saw the commercial I was shocked--it was definitely not what I was expecting and my first thought was, "WHAT WAS NIKE THINKING?!?!?" However, the ad has had less of a negative impact on Nike then I expected. In the University of Washington's online newspaper a student writes Nike needed to address the Tiger scandal publicly in order to move past it, which I definitely agree with!

Maybe now I can FINALLY stop blogging and Tweeting about Tiger Woods---well after I finish my YouTube video :)

Ethical Crises

The topic that we will be discussing in senior seminar tomorrow night is ethics--how ethics plays an underlying role in both the cause of many major organizational crises and in the management of the crisis as it is occurring and as organizational learning and change occurs post-crisis. I will be leading the discussion along with two of my fellow classmates, Jillian and Todd.

I have discussed Nike's crisis related to its labor practices in factories and "sweatshops" around the globe--in fact, that crisis has been a model for many case studies on business ethics that are often used by students at colleges and universities around the world. An example of one can be found here.

For this blog entry I decided to take a look at what Nike has done as a corporation following their scandals for improve ethical practices in their business. I was pleased to find that on March 30, 2009 Nike implemented a Business Code of Ethics that applies to all employees. Nike refers to their Code of Ethics as "The Rules of the Game." From the Nike Web site, I viewed a presentation that was given to all employees at the time the Code was adopted and is shown to all new Nike employees moving forward.

The Code of Ethics covers topics such as respect, safety, heath, the environment, CSR, product safety, import/export laws, intellectual property, recording keeping, computing, privacy, fraud/theft, gifts and gratuities, conflicts of interest, inside trading, antitrust, political contributions and sportsmanship--seems to me to be a very extensive listing. They also established an "AlertLine" where employees can anonymously alert upper management if they see an ethical violation or potential ethical violation in their work area.

Since the Code of Ethics was only implemented a little more than a year ago, I am not surprised that there are not yet any reported results involving the effect the code has had on the corporation--but I'm sure it will be coming soon! I'll keep an eye out for case studies in the future!

Also, stay tuned within the next couple of weeks because I'm currently working on a YouTube video involving Nike and Crisis Management that I will be posting on here just like the Podcast that I posted last week--hope you enjoy it! :)

First Podcast!!

Hi Readers,

Here is my first ever attempt at creating a Podcast--definitely a learning experience!! I decided to refocus on how Tiger Woods' crisis will effect the Nike brand in the future. Thanks for your input Sam :)

Happy listening!!

Nike's Experiences in Social Media

Two weeks ago a recent graduate of Quinnipiac's Public Relations Program, Kate Ottavio, came to speak to our Senior Seminar Crisis Management class about her experiences in the public relations field in CT and how she has integrated social media into both her career and her personal life. It was very interesting to listen to how social media, such as Twitter and blogging, will be useful in an entry-level public relations jobs, especially because hopefully I will be starting one in a few months. At first, I was a bit resistant to social media, but I have gotten more comfortable with both Twitter and blogging at a result of this class. Listening to Kate's presentation gave me the idea to look into Nike's experiences with social media and how it has affected them, how it could lead to a potential crisis and how it could affect them should a crisis occur.

Nike originally took on social media from a different perspective that other big name companies competing for their market share. They had the ultimate goal in mind of creating a unique virtual networking system for some of their most loyal consumers, focusing to target on specific niches. I watched a webinar that recapped Nike's social media campaign that took place in 2008 revolving around one of their newest and most innovative products, Nike+. I was interested in this campaign for two reasons. First, because Nike chose to forgo traditional social media outlets and pursue a unique new online opportunity and two, because I am actually an owner and loyal user of the Nike+.

Nike+ is a tool for dedicated runners, usually those training for longer races like half-marathons or marathons (like I currently am :) ). The microchip that you put in the bottom of your running shoe, tracks the time, distance and pace of our workouts and simultaneously syncs that information to your iPod, so you can get real-time updates during your runs. The social media aspect of the product comes in the form of the Nike Web site launched in conjunction with the products release, nikeplus.com. Nike+ users can log onto this Web site to upload their training data and network with other runners around the globe. There are discussion forums where runners can connect and motivate each other or discover running partners in their area.

Combining Nike+ with a unique avenue of social media was a huge success for Nike, accomplished and even exceeding their initial goals to engage existing running with the 'Nike+ brand' and create conversations around Nike+. To date they have sold more than 1.3 million Nike+ kits, and of those users more than 800,000 are active members of nikeplus.com. As a user of Nike+ myself, I can attest to the positive experience I have had with the site and how combining social networking online with my workouts has boosted my training.

As part of my senior seminar class, I have also begun following some of the Nike blogs and Twitter accounts that are currently online. Nike continues to integrate social media, mainly in their efforts to promote their products--the topics discussed more prominently on their social media sites are basketball, football and soccer. This got me started thinking about how Nike's use of social media could contribute to a crisis or how it could help the company alleviate another type of crisis, should it occur. I found an interesting article online that coaches companies on how to handle a social media crisis--it's definitely a must read for anyone looking to use social media at the company or with their client. Auther, Jay Baer, a social media consultant, provides four lessons of social media crisis management:

1. It's risky business--a social media crisis can cause REAL damage to a company's reputation

2. You never know--you must ALWAYS be monitoring social media because who never know who may be posting about you

3. Do Fire Drills--create a plan of action in advance in case a social media crisis occurs

4. Be Prepared to Create--how quickly would you be able to respond to a social media crisis?

Now that's something all of us--including Nike--can definitely take a lesson from!!

Nike WILL weather the Tiger Woods storm

I am confident in saying that most everyone in my generation will remember where we were when we found out about the terrorist attacks to the World Trade Towers on 9/11/01 and most of our parents will remember where they were when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and further still most all of our grandparents will remember where they were when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese in 1941. It seems as though for every generation there is an iconic, life-changing event that carries with that generation for the rest of their lives.

Although it may be hard to believe now, as it seems like every news station is covering Tiger news 24/7, ten years from now I don't think that anyone will remember where they were Thanksgiving Day 2009 when Tiger Woods, the face of Nike and a hero and idol in the sports world at the time, crashed his black SUV outside of his Florida home and his secret double life was revealed to the entire world. I don't think anyone will remember where they were on Friday, February 19, 2010 when Tiger came out of month's of hiding in rehab and delivered a 14-minute apology on national television.

Tiger Woods has become just as much a part of the Nike brand in the eyes of many consumers as the "Swoosh" or the tag-line "Just Do It," and I think Nike did the right thing by sticking by Tiger during this time, despite the fact that they were one of the only sponsors to do so. Amy Reynolds, a top executive at Nike, was present in the front row next to Tiger's mother during his speech last Friday and Tiger acknowledged Nike during his speech thanking the company for its support. Tiger's estranged wife Elin has even been spotted wearing Nike clothing, a sign that she too is sticking by the company.

Nike understood that events such as these come with the territory of have major athletes and international superstars represent your brand and I'm sure they simply launched a previously established crisis management plan for this type of situation as soon as it occured.

How is Nike reacting to TeamSweat!??

As we have discussed extensively in class, every organization is vulnerable to some type of crisis. Some crises may strike quickly and end quickly, leaving the organization relatively unscathed. I would guess that most of us are familiar with Nike's recent crisis related to its corporate social responsibility and the alleged unethical treatment of its workers in factories abroad. Although the peak of the crisis seems to be over, negative press involving Nike's lack of CSR continues to keep cropping up on the Internet.

Now let me introduce you to the organization that is primarily responsible for the crisis that has been plaguing Nike for decades--TeamSweat. TeamSweat was founded by Jim Keady, a college soccer coach at St. John's University. Keady first began investigating Nike's labor factories while taking graduate school courses at St. John's and discovered many Nike facilities were basically sweatshops. Keady formed TeamSweat after being forced to resign as a coach at the university for refusing to outfit his team in Nike uniforms. He has since traveled the world visiting Nike factories and even produced a full-length film about the topic, entitled "Sweat."

For the past eight years, TeamSweat has been dedicated to improving the conditions in Nike factories, and as a result of the organization Nike has made many changes for the better--but TeamSweat doesn't seem to be satisfied.

On February 11th, Keady published a new article in The Huffington Post, an online newspaper/popular blog site, entitled "Why is Nike Afraid of Disclosing what their Overseas Factory Workers are Paid?" The article claims that if Nike is so sure that their factory workers are paid a fair living wage why are they still refusing to disclose actual data regarding the wages they pay their workers.

I'm not sure if this story is really "new" news, or TeamSweat just trying to dig up old dirt. However, Nike is yet to respond to this story. I have been checking around the Internet to see if some sort of response will pop up on their Web site, but it has yet to appear. Nike originally addressed the crisis by releasing its first Corporate Social Responsibility Report in 2006 and subsequent editions in 2007 and 2009, but that doesn't seem to be satisfying these special interest groups and if Nike doesn't start doing more this crisis is going to continue to smolder.

I am looking forward to tracking the progress of this in the upcoming weeks to see his Nike deals with this mini-crisis moving forward.

On a side note, Nike released an awesome new short video this week called "Human Chain"--it highlights the perseverance of athletes in tons of different sports and of course, coincides with the kick off of the Olympics. It's really awesome--Click here to see it on YouTube!