Downside To Being A Social-Media-Savvy Entrepreneur

It is not necessarily a good thing when the owner of a private company becomes synonymous with his business. Just ask Chinese gymnast Li Ning. In the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Li-Ning Company Ltd, had noticed that its brand marketing strategy from the 1990s, which highlighted collectivism and the charisma of Li Ning the star, failed to live up to consumers’ expectations. The younger generation, who knew little about the gymnast, did not think gymnastics was very cool. Nike and Adidas, which by then had Chinese consumers spellbound, were making inroads into China. Li-Ning Company Ltd had to rebuild its brand by removing the imprint of Li Ning, the person. At the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Li Ning, known as the “Prince of Gymnastics”, lit the torch. Outsiders sang praises of his comeback which had brought back memories of Li-Ning soaring into fame as the first Chinese brand during the Asian Games in 1990. Kept in the dark, however, Li-Ning Company’s executives were dumb-struck by Li Ning’s Olympics appearance. They were dismayed that Chinese consumers once again equated Li-Ning Company Ltd with the gymnastics star Li Ning as it undid all their efforts at transitioning away from that marketing strategy. Their fears were legitimate and in the years that followed the company went on the skids. Read more at Forbes.