China: It's The Shoes
Is it the Shoes? Is it the Shoes? Is it the Shoes? ... it's gotta be the SHOES!"
-- Mars Blackmon, from Spike Lee's 1986 film, "She's Gotta Have It"
Great article over at Slate, entitled, "Female Weightlifters, Spanish Basketball Stars, and Kim Jong-il: The strange world of Chinese sneaker endorsements." It's by Jacob Leibenluft and it is on the strange and evolving world of athletic shoes and endorsements in China. Article concludes by saying that "for Nike and Adidas, those may be lessons their Chinese competitors are learning all too well," but I think this article has much to teach about China, China business, and, of course, the shoes.
Comments (7)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endHunxuer - July 26, 2007 12:03 AM
Kinda like big Hollywood stars doing ads in Japan for things like Whiskey, cigarettes and other products that would have soccer moms in the U.S. screaming bloody murder, NBA stars could shill unknown (outside of China) shoe brands for top dollar. Pretty smart.
mablog - July 26, 2007 7:46 PM
Interesting article. From my point of view it will take more than sponsorship for Li Ning to compete with the giants though.
nanheyangrouchuan - July 27, 2007 10:07 AM
Wait until those chinese sneakers experience "product fade" during a competition.
Nike SB - September 24, 2007 5:29 PM
You guys should checkout the shoes that came out from Nike with Ipod applications. Nike and Apple coming together is a perfect combination and if this can motivate a healthier lifestyle than more power to them.
Nike Dunks - April 22, 2008 4:27 AM
Interesting article. From my point of view it will take more than sponsorship for Li Ning to compete with the giants though.
nike dunks - May 31, 2009 4:49 AM
Great article.
dlb - April 25, 2011 8:29 PM
Why for a while there were we hearing a lot about Li Ning expanding worldwide and now we never hear of that? Have they retracted or was it all just smoke and mirrors to begin with?