We're five rounds into the Serie A season and the top of the table is already starting to take on a familiar look. Juventus are out in front with a maximum 15 points, ahead of nearest rivals Napoli, who have 12 points. After winning the past seven titles, are Juventus already on the way to an eighth?
This season it was hoped that some of the other traditional big clubs could make a challenge to them. Inter were tipped to by some, having made new signings such as Radja Nainggolan, but have only two wins out of the first five. They've lost against Parma and Torino, sides they would expect to beat if they want to challenge Juventus' dominance, and are now already eight points back.
Roma are another team who would have had high expectations for this season, but they've only won one of their opening games, losing twice, and have only five points so far. AC Milan also only have five points, although they may not be expected to be contending for the title yet after all the upheaval with their ownership situation over the past few seasons. Fiorentina and Lazio are doing slightly better, with ten and nine points respectively, but barring them having a spectacular season, they'll probably drop off the pace as the season goes on.
Juventus are definitely the strongest team in the league, with probably the largest budget and the best setup in the boardroom and off the pitch. This is why they've hoovered up the last seven titles. Even more worryingly for the rest of the league is that now Cristiano Ronaldo seems to be finding his groove, with a goal and an assist in their last game against Frosinone and two more goals in the game before that against Sassuolo. If he's getting on song then there really will not be any stopping them.
Midweek matches take place from tonight, we may have a better idea of how the season might work out after them. However, barring a spectacular collapse or a superhuman effort by one of the other teams, probably Napoli, it looks like we can already safely say that Juventus will be crowned again come next summer.
Tuesday, 25 September 2018
Saturday, 8 September 2018
Nike and Colin Kaepernick
Nike have released their full 'Just Do It' 30th anniversary video featuring Colin Kaepernick. All week there's been outrage from certain sides about their use of the former quarterback, who's been at the centre of a storm since he started kneeling down to protest during the national anthem before NFL games he played in.
His protest started back in 2016, and many labelled him unpatriotic, including Donald Trump, who called for team owners to fire players who protested in that way. The owners seemingly listened, with Kaepernick apparently blackballed from being signed to a team, even though it appears he could still be a good option for many teams.
Those who are upset have vowed to boycott Nike, stop buying its products, and have been taking to social media to show off their defaced Nike products. In many situations, this could be damaging for an organisation, with potential reputational damage and negative effects to sales. Having the President of the United States and his supporters against you is not something most businesses would want.
However, Nike didn't become a multi-billion dollar company for no reason. Before launching the campaign they would have done their research and analysis, and would have figured out that offending Donald Trump and others like him would be outweighed by the people they could attract. They decided that their audience who support Kaepernick are more significant for now than those who don't.
From a public relations point of view, this shows that sometimes its OK to do something one audience doesn't like, if it's something which your key audience will get behind. It's not always possible to please all audiences all the time.
This can also be an important lesson when dealing with crisis communications. Many companies, especially in this age of outrage where people are often forced to apologise for causing offence, might have apologised and changed the video or the campaign. Nike haven't done so, and have kept the campaign on track.
It seems to be paying off, with reports that Nike's online sales jumped 31% after they unveiled the campaign, and if nothing else, they got people talking about them. Take a look at the full video below.
His protest started back in 2016, and many labelled him unpatriotic, including Donald Trump, who called for team owners to fire players who protested in that way. The owners seemingly listened, with Kaepernick apparently blackballed from being signed to a team, even though it appears he could still be a good option for many teams.
Those who are upset have vowed to boycott Nike, stop buying its products, and have been taking to social media to show off their defaced Nike products. In many situations, this could be damaging for an organisation, with potential reputational damage and negative effects to sales. Having the President of the United States and his supporters against you is not something most businesses would want.
However, Nike didn't become a multi-billion dollar company for no reason. Before launching the campaign they would have done their research and analysis, and would have figured out that offending Donald Trump and others like him would be outweighed by the people they could attract. They decided that their audience who support Kaepernick are more significant for now than those who don't.
From a public relations point of view, this shows that sometimes its OK to do something one audience doesn't like, if it's something which your key audience will get behind. It's not always possible to please all audiences all the time.
This can also be an important lesson when dealing with crisis communications. Many companies, especially in this age of outrage where people are often forced to apologise for causing offence, might have apologised and changed the video or the campaign. Nike haven't done so, and have kept the campaign on track.
It seems to be paying off, with reports that Nike's online sales jumped 31% after they unveiled the campaign, and if nothing else, they got people talking about them. Take a look at the full video below.
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