PR Crisis of New Balance 18-11-2016

New Balance is one of the most famous global sports company in the world. It has different kinds of sports events that has held and have a lot of sports promotions. New Balance like others major sports global companies such as Nike and Adidas, has different businesses in the world, which include factories that provide sports shoes and other products. However, though having promotions of the products and services, New Balance needs to manage their PR with tactics and be aware of different people from different communities, such as race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and disabilities. 

According to Bloomberg, after the New Balance Atlantic Inc. made a statement that they support United States President-elect Donald Trump's trade policy, such as opposed the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). New Balance is an opponent of TPP because they think TPP would damage the United States manufacturing, which would hurt the working class. This caused some of white supremacists declared that New Balance "official shoes of white people". Many people were angry of New Balance's statements. As a result, after the "statements" of white supremacists, the Twitter account of New Balance wrote a tweet statement on 14 November 2016, stated that "New Balance does not tolerate bigotry or hate in any form", One of our officials was recently asked to comment on a trade policy that was taken out of context. As a 110-year-old company with five factories in the U.S. and thousands of employees worldwide from all races, genders, culture, and sexual orientations, New Balance is a values-driven organization and culture that believes in humanity, integrity, community and mutual respect for people around the world. We have been and always will be committed to manufacturing in the United States.” Donald Trump made many controversial statements during his presidential campaign, some people claimed that his campaign was built by bigotry and hate, which included insult on minorities, women and Muslims. In my opinion, I think New Balance was only based on the policies, as they did not make an endorsement as a company. In this case, I think New Balance make a right decision to reject white supremacists because these "endorsements" violate the values of the company. Oppose TPP is the policy differences, but have no contrasts to bullying and bigotry. 

From this news, I think that to manage PR as a sports company, the PR need to care about different communities. Some sports companies like New Balance when making their statements and promotions need to be careful, in order to prevent that some people would use their statements to have further use. They need to manage PR well when having different situations. Sports PR is a managerial communication-based function designed to identity sport organization's key public, and foster desirable relationships between the sports organization and those public. Sports PR need to manage with media relations and community relations. They also need to care about the relations between the companies and customers when promote products and services.

References:
New Balance Twitter Account (2016). Retrieved from:
https://twitter.com/newbalance/status/798322478389035009
Bhasin, K. (2016). New Balance Created Its PR Crisis. Neo-Nazis Aren’t Helping. Bloomberg. Retrieved from: 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-15/new-balance-created-its-pr-crisis-neo-nazis-aren-t-helping
Bhasin, K. (2016). New Balance Burned for Praising Trump’s Trade Stance. Bloomberg. Retrieved from: 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-15/new-balance-created-its-pr-crisis-neo-nazis-aren-t-helping
Germano, S. (2016). New Balance Faces Social Media Backlash After Welcoming Trump. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-balance-faces-social-media-backlash-after-welcoming-trump-1478823102

Review on Concussion (cast by Will Smith) 16-11-2016

After watching the movie of Concussion, which was cast by Will Smith, a famous actor in the United States, I wonder how there are too many business in the Sports enterprise. As sports are one of the most important entertainment for the people, sports create lots of job opportunities for the people. Unlike the Hong Kong government that it hasn't put more of resources in the sports enterprise, the United States has developed many big businesses that are related to the major sports events. The United States put a lot of resources on sports, and in the United States there are many sports events and competitions, such as National Basketball Association and National Football League, has created a lot of job opportunities and lots of revenues during the competitions. 

Dr. Bennet Omalu (left) and Will Smith.

From this movie, the story plot was talked about a Nigerian forensic pathologist named Dr. Bennet Omalu, who emigrated to the United States in 1993. He discovered that his research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) brain degeneration suffered by professional football players. It is because during the career of the United States National football players, there has a lot of concussion during the competitions. Though the players would retire after their national football career, their diseases on brain injure would affect them. Dr. Omalu fought against the National Football League trying to suppress his reasearch on CTE suffered by professional football players. However, no one supported him and asked him not to reveal his viewpoint. From the film, as it bases on a real case, I can see about the darkest area in between the rights of national football players and big businesses. I think the media did not report it out is because if more American people know about playing national footballs would get brain damage, then it would make less people to watch and play national footballs. And the media has a lot of businesses with the NFL, other major sports businesses and sponsorship. If the cases and reports released, it would make NFL lost lot of businesses.

From the film, I know that professional players would have illnesses that are related to the sports they played. It is because that there would have injured during the sports. I don't believe that there are sports players who has never got injured during their sports career. The difference is just as serious and whether frequently happened. Professional players would always face injure during their careers. One of the famous example is the United States former professional boxer Muhammad Ali, who was suffered from Parkinson's disease for more than three decades. He was suffered from concussion.




From the English meaning of concussion means a mild traumatic brain injury, that most concussions occur without losing consciousness. As professional players would face injure during their careers, I think concussions cannot be avoided but it must have more safety precautions in different sports. According to Associated Press (2014), concussion can be prevented and managed, including "Wear helmets and other recommended protective equipment; know signs of a concussion; ask whether a child's coaches are trained in concussion prevention and management, and who on the sidelines is responsible for evaluating players after a hit; ask whether players are taught head-safe techniques."

After watching the film, I am appreciated of Will Smith's acting on Dr. Bennet Omalu, also I admire that Dr. Omalu has made great contributions to his country, the United States. Although I am not an American, I find out some of the messages from the film show that you can fulfill you will and thoughts that can help the societies in the United States, and everyone in the United States can contribute and make their American dream. Dr. Omalu is a success story. I think the main message of the film is to tell that if the things are real, you need to use your efforts to tell everyone that you are right, in order to help more people in the societies.

References:

Concussion: Will Smith and Dr. Bennet Omalu Official Interview. (2015). YouTube. Published: 15 December 2015. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w7tcILcHKo 

PR Strategy on Running 30-10-2016

In recent years, more and more people are like to playing sports in order to maintain health. In the past, even in sports activities and games are mainly based on gender, especially for men.such as men are mostly particular in football and basketball, while women are particularly on ballet. However, in recent years, the sports culture and community has already embraced on gender equality. More and more women are delight to join and playing sports in different games and activities. Sports activities are already not for men, but for all people. For example, running is already become a popular sport for all men and women. One of the reason is that both men and women can practice running individually, also running can pay less costs to maintain health. Some of the sports companies in recent years such as Nike and New Balance have organized different sports events of running, especially Nike Women to encourage people for running and buying sports shoes.  This has created a successful sports culture for people and encourage them to play sports.

For New Balance, they have made a good PR strategy on running. New Balance has organized differences of running campaigns to promote sports. For example, New Balance organized their sports competition half marathon and 10K in 2014. For the New Balance Half Marathon 2014, the sports events was on 7 December 2014. For set the strategic PR plan, they need to make promotions in order to encourage people especially running sports lovers to join the competition. Then the organization need to find the sponsorship. The event is title sponsored by New Balance. And it was organized by Hong Kong Marathon Pro.To manage the competition event, first need to set the deadline of application date. In this event the application deadline was 14 November 2014.  The event was held at Pak Tam Chung, Sai Kung. For the sports players, after they had their applications, they need to pick up their race materials on 29 or 30 November 2014. To the eligibility of joining the competition, the organiser had set of different groups, according to year of birth and ages. Then they reported at Po Leung Kuk Pak Tam Chung Holiday Camp. The event was last for 3 hours and 10 minutes. The entry fee was $210 for individuals and $630 for groups. After the competition, the entry free would make a donation to Po Leung Kuk for young sports development purpose.

The New Balance Marathon 2014 is a successful running competition. They implemented their strategic PR plan. I think New Balance have developed their PR strategy, including select their PR team, know of target audiences and develop a strategic PR plan.They also built media relationships for strategic advantage. Also, they can maintain an open information flow and keep their PR program relevant over time, in order to improve strategies, objective and tactics. I think New Balance is a successful example to build up PR strategies through sports events. They make PR as a strategic management tool in managing the reputation of New Balance. This has made contributions to the goals and missions of the company.

References:
New Balance Marathon 2014. (2014). New Balance. Retrieved from:
http://www.newbalance.com.hk/running/eng/nb-hm.php 

Inside report on MTR Hong Kong race Walking 23-10-2016

MTR Hong Kong race walking is a sport event organized by the MTR Corporation. The event was held on 23 October 2016 at Central, Hong Kong. The event hold each year in order to attract more in Hong Kong people to interest and join the race walking.

I was one of the volunteer in the MTR Hong Kong race walking. Though the competition, I saw that it was different from other sports running competitions. Race walking is different from running, it needs to have more energy to play and efforts to complete the competition with others.  According to the MTR official website, Race Walking is developed from normal walking. Athletes are required to keep at least one foot on the ground at all times while the advancing leg must be straight once the heel hits the ground. Race Walking develops an athlete’s coordination and endurance. It is a low-impact sport when compared to running, with a lower possibility of joint injuries, making it suitable for a wide spectrum of the general public to enjoy. Race Walking is simple and convenient to do – all you need is a pair of sports shoes, simple sportswear and a flat area. No special equipment is required. Race Walking also has the following health benefits, it burns calories to help maintain healthy body weight,  improves cardiopulmonary functions, helps build up and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints, also it improves coordination and flexibility.

During the competition,  I was ordered to give the number cloth to the competition participators.  I saw that different participators that are come from different backgrounds.  And also it takes long time to make and order the registrations for the competition participators. Some of the competition participators have different looks during the competition. I could see that most of the competitors were preformed well and they were enjoy joining the race walking competition. Before the competition, I was joined several classes that introduce how to participate the race walking competition. It also taught how to manage the activities. This have gave a good experience to me, which make me have confidence to participant in other sports events in the future.

References:
MTR Hong Kong Race Walking 2016. (2016). MTR Corporation. Retrieved from:
http://www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/community/healthy_walking_16.html 

Reflections on sharing of sports magazines 21-10-2016

After listened to the sharing of the editors of Sports Magazine Sport Soho on Wednesday, I was first realized that the contents of sports magazine is very diverse. The content of sports magazine is not only about sports. Most of the content are about interviews and sharing of sports players and make promotions and advertisements. In this episode of Sport Soho, which was published on October 2016, they interviewed six athletes, who have major sports participation in Hong Kong. They have played six major sports athletics of track and field, include Shotput, Javelin, Discus, Long Jump, High Jump and Pole vault. Six athletes shared their experiences and feelings in the magazine. Besides on the cover story of six athletes, this sports magazine have many articles that are written by different editorials. From the sports magazine, there are also news project, talked about how to manage and recover the injure of football players, stated that the injure of football players would have arthritis.

As sports magazine is part of a print media, I think now there are still have markets for the people who are interested on sports issues. Nowadays as people are interested and used mobile electronics to watch the news, including the sports news. Also people can through the social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to watch the sports news. In my opinion, I think that sports magazine still play a signification role in the delivery of sports information, particularly on the local level. As the magazine is purchased by people who want to read them, and there is assurance that the reader is willing to accept the information. I think magazines are still useful for the readers, just like other print media like newspapers.

I think sports magazine can focus on the sports events happening in a given community, they can cover a variety of sports on a weekly or monthly basis. I think sports magazine are different with other social media and online type of reporting the news, it is because they can focus on one particular segment, readers can have a higher degree of interest on reading the sports magazine. For example, Stephanie Au is one of the famous athletes in Hong Kong, many people are interested on reading her stories though most of the contents are for entertainments. There are also some famous athletes in Hong Kong appear on sports magazines, which can help them to have promotions for themselves. However, these athletes as become the role model, they would mostly appear on other magazines. For example, Stephanie Au appeared on Harper's Bazaar, a Women's based magazine.

Kitchee Sports Club and reform of football developement policies 4-10-2016

Although the Hong Kong government once has talked many times that they would put more resources to developing footballs, the incidents that the government may take back the use of Kitchee training football club in Sha Tin would be a disaster for Hong Kong government to develop the football sports. I suggest that the Hong Kong government should remain to let Kitchee to have their own football club in Sha Tin to practice and training football sports activities.

In my opinion, I think the idea that using the lands of Kitchee sports training centres for housing not good. Though Hong Kong has limited land resources, I think using more lands to build housing is absolute and must to do this. However, like Kitchee sports club training centre in Sha Tin is a good opportunity to let young people to practicing football. According to Kitchee's boss Ken Ng said, there did not now it was a short-term agreement in 2011. And Jockey Clubs donated much money on this project. If cannot use Sha Tin, there would not have new places for Kitchee to training footballs.

According to South China Morning Post (2016), it mentioned that the Kitchee training centre, which was sponsored by the Jocket Club, opened last year. The aim was to build a facility to train and developing young football players. The centre provides training facilities to Kitchee SC, schools and about 500 children. The Hong Kong team is using this centre. I think it is unnecessary to use the training centre to build housing. The government can still find other places to build housing. They may think that using the lands of training centres can more easy to fulfill housing but it may make the sports communities cannot have places to practice sports. It may easy to find the land and build housing because it can make less costs to have land allocations. However, it would affect the sports developments. The government should rethink carefully on land use and housing developments.

References:
Kao, E., Sun, N., Fung, O. (2016). Kitchee Sports Club boss fears for future training base. South China Morning Post. PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 04 October, 2016, 10:23 pm UPDATED : Wednesday, 05 October, 2016, 11:20 am Retrieved from: 
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2025057/kitchee-sports-club-boss-fears-future-training-base 
Chan, K. W. (2016). Fears realised as Kitchee soccer training centre in Sha Tin makes way for housing development. South China Morning Post. PUBLISHED : Monday, 03 October, 2016, 10:02pm UPDATED : Monday, 03 October, 2016, 11:21pm Retrieved from:
http://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2024691/fears-realised-kitchee-soccer-training-centre-sha-tin-makes-way

The film reviews of The Armstrong Lie 2-10-2016

Views on The Armstrong Lie                           2 October 2016

After watching the movies of The Armstrong Lie, I think this is a great documentary film that have naturally reflected the lives of former American cycling athlete Lance Armstrong. I have realized and understood about the background and sports career of American former professional road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong. Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He is that 1993 Elite Men's Road Race World Champion, and 7 times of the champions of Tour de France during 1999 and 2005, however the awards were stripped due to the doping allegations of Lance Armstrong, after Armstrong realized that he had been taking drugs in the competition.

Armstrong once found the Lance Armstrong Foundation (after Armstrong was found to take drugs and banned to join other competitions relates with cycling, the Foundation was re-branded in 2013 as Livestrong Foundation). The foundation is helped the children and other cancer survivors free to help them to survive from cancer. The charities organization provides support for people affected by cancer. Although the foundation was founded by Lance Armstrong, he resigned in 2012 after he was found guilty of doping. I think the idea of his founded foundation is good because this can help the people indeed, and also it can help the people who are affected by cancer. The foundation provides free cancer support services to everyone.

When I watch this documentary movie, I felt sorry of Lance Armstrong. Although I strongly disagree with his behavior and acts of doping during his cycling career and competitions, I think the reason why he has chose to take doping during and before the competitions which he had. I think one of the reason is that Armstrong felt self-depression after recognized that he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal metastatic testicular cancer in 1996. Due to his cancer, he took a surgery and later found the Foundation to provide help with other cancer survivors. Due to his self-depression, he wanted to make more successful results to rebuild his sports image. After won for 7 times of Tour de France, Armstrong retired for a short time period. The documentary film once wanted to make about Armstrong's comeback to cycling. However it cancelled after Armstrong started his career again in 2009. Armstrong hired the film because he wanted to play it clean and defend his strong image. He wanted the spotlight to back on him and show to the public that he was still a strong fighter. He defended the image of himself during the competitions. The documentary film project was reopened again in 2012 because a doping investigation of Lance Armstrong because the final result of Armstrong's investigation would lead to the end of his career. After the investigation, the United States Anti-Doping Agency concluded that Armstrong had used performance-enhanced drugs during his career and banned him entire life to compete in all sports follow the World Anti-doping Agency Code., and his stripped wins would not be allocated to others.

In my opinion, although international sport competitions have strong competitors, I don't think taking drugs or doping is a good method to win the champions or prizes. I think it is wrong to have doping which in force to winning the competitions successfully. If my friends who are playing in major sports competitions in Hong Kong, trying to take drugs in order to win good prizes, I would stop him and urge him not to do this. Doping in sport is wrong and I think it should not happen. However, I tend to believe that it is common in international sports. Some countries such as Russia and China, would allow or force athletes to have doping in sport competitions. As a result, in 2016, Russia was banned to join some major international sports events, such as parts of the 2016 Summer Olympic games and summer Paralympics. I think it is not ethical for athletes to use drugs to make performance better. In Armstrong doping allegations, this reflects that media can effect the public view and change public opinions on everyone.

This movie influence me that it should be fair to join other competitions. If we lies because of protect our self-image, it would make us lost our trustworthy to others. And I believe honest is one of the sportsmanship for athletes.

References:

Fotheringham, W. (2015). Timeline: Lance Armstrong's journey from deity to disgrace. Guardian. Published: 9 March 2015. Retrieved from:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/mar/09/lance-armstrong-cycling-doping-scandal