Nike'S History In China Is Not Long.

Nike finally relies on a price marketing strategy that once played a role in the US market, reversing the situation: Nike's rise in the counter trend, raising the price of its fine tailored inventory, and claiming that its annual 4%-5% price increase is reasonable. Jordan's brand grew rapidly during the recovery. It began to discuss. Sponsor China's top players, like Jordan who signed the contract with Nike, suddenly became popular in big cities. "However, only a small number of Chinese consumers buy the latest Jordan shoes purely for basketball. In fact, most of the sales of Jordan come from people who wear Jordan shoes on the streets," said Eric Tian, a former marketing manager of Jordan and a partner in photo social App Co. He said that in China, 65% of Jordan's sales benefited from those who regarded it as a fashion brand, and only 35% of consumers valued the performance of shoes. Nike spokesman declined to confirm this figure, but there was no rebuttal. )

"Their retail partners continue to buy more products," said Susan Anderson, an analyst at FBR capital market. She also noted that other brands had suffered the same problem. "But suddenly they hit the wall." Nike's image of a company famous for its high quality foreign products has been damaged due to its obsolete style on shelves. From 2012 to 2013, Nike's sales fell by 2.5%, and its sales fell for three consecutive quarters in the Chinese market that it once hoped for.

Every time Tian talks with the ideal target customers of the brand, usually men who are obsessed with basketball and play basketball in professional basketball teams or twenty year old basketball teams, they can recall the highlights of Michael Jordan's career. In 1998, he defeated the NBA finals of the Utah jazz, or his victory against Nicks. But most Chinese consumers are too young. They do not remember those moments. They will not repeat these pictures every few weeks in the sports center. "They never really saw Jordan's game," Tian said. Therefore, the focus of Nike's marketing strategy is to keep telling consumers that these shoes are technological miracles. The first and most important motive for designing them is to play basketball.

However, brands are easy to be regarded as fashion labels for celebrities. This is the reason why Nike recently released an advertisement about Michael Jordan for the first time to the Chinese audience through television and social media. This is a 120 minute inspirational advertisement described by Jordan herself. This is the reason why Jordan himself went to China for the first time since 2004. He also stopped for a couple of NBA preseason games in Shenzhen and Shanghai, and at the same time carried out a lot of self promotion.

Jordan's China trip triggered reports from China's state-owned media. Nike sees this journey as an opportunity to link its shoes more closely with the greatest athlete in history. The other two top players on the Losangeles clippers, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, are also the spokesmen of the brand. Nike "is trying to maintain a balance between retro performance and performance," spokesman Huang said. He and the brand endorsement athletes came here, which strengthened the brand's pursuit of high performance positioning. (Nike refused to allow executives to be interviewed. )

Back to the entrance to the "flying space" exhibition, Gao has given up. It was late at night, and Jordan was still inside and did not plan to sign for fans.

"I feel very sad because I didn't see it today. Jordan 。 The security measures here are too strict, "he said. "I spent the whole day looking for Jordan."

Gao sent me another message on the second day. At this point, Michael Jordan's Sherlock Hornets are playing in Shanghai. "Hey, I'm very excited tonight," he wrote. "I spent 2200 yuan to see the NBA China match."

It costs US $350 to go to a NBA preseason, which is probably the most practical thing that a sneaker will do.

In the middle of October, when Shanghai was well prepared and broadcast live in China at the same time, the former anchor Ahmad Rashad and Nike top Jordan brand designer Tinker Hatfield ridiculed on the stage, saying that in 90s, Rashad once announced to the public in the three or four months before the appearance of the new Jordan sneakers. "Michael, of course, wore it after you," Hatfield told Rashad. Then Jordan went straight to the stage. No matter whether he was joking, he could not accept it. "You're the first one to wear it, huh?" he murmured.

But this interesting dialogue was not captured by the 80 Chinese journalists or photographers almost all Jordan shoes and Jordan shirts and jackets. They were listening to simultaneous interpretation on the stage. The conversation soon changed the theme. They talked about the brand new Wieden + Kennedy advertising company. Chinese advertisement The advertisement was released in the Chinese market four days in advance. This successful advertisement proves the importance of the Chinese market. "I hope we will see it in the us too," Jordan said with eager longing. "This is a great advertisement."

One thing we can't deny about China is that people here love basketball very much. Mao Zedong loved this sport very much. It became the only western movement that was not banned during the chaotic Cultural Revolution. Now, according to Wall Street analysts, basketball development will develop rapidly in China, because the State Council takes the development of national leisure sports as the emphasis. Deutsche bank analyst Weiner believes that as of 2025, China may have 300 million players. In the US, he estimates that half of the sales of Jordan's brand come from those who want to play. This proportion may never reach that high in China, but Nike's focus on shoe performance has reduced its possibility of becoming a vanishing fashion brand. Weiner said, "this is authority. This is what people pay for it. "

At the same time, Nike is still dealing with other problems in China. A Chinese competitor, "Jordan (Qiaodan) sports" registered Jordan's Chinese trademark in 2000. The shoes produced are strikingly similar to Jordan shoes. China's trademark law protects the first person to apply for a trademark, not the first user of the trademark. This year, Michael Jordan was defeated in administrative proceedings against Chinese manufacturers in court, but it is reported that Jordan has planned to appeal to the Supreme Court of China. The reason why Jordan lost the lawsuit was that "Jordan sports" only used the Chinese name of a foreign common surname, and it was difficult to identify its corresponding relationship with Michael Jordan.