1.

The introduction of the issue: Feminism and gender equality

Feminism is the credence to social, economic, and political equality between the fair
sex and the sterner sex( Brunell, L & Burkett, E 2020, ‘Feminism’, in A Augustyn, H
Campbell, Y Chauhan, B Duignan, G Lotha, L Murray, EP Pauls, E Rodriguez, S Sinha, A
Tikkaner (eds.) Encyclopaedia Britannica, USA). However, Hannam (2011) underlined that
feminism is also a cultural as well as a politically aware movement, which can change the
women’s perspectives and affect how women and men live their lives; therefore, it has
triggered fierce controversies that have continued to the present day. According to Geiger
and Parker (2018), although women have bolstered their roles and boosted their standings
by participating in the labor force, their growth on some fronts has stagnated in current
years. This fact showed that large gender gaps still exist in America, which are most
evident in allocating the top positions in business and government. Moreover, by
conducting research about gender equality, Pew Center Research drew public attention to
the issues in American society. Specifically, an average of one in five surveyed women
said that they had experienced sexual harassment at work ; nearly half of women
participating in this survey answered that they have faced some forms of gender
discrimination (Gramlich, 2017). Reading statistics about the inequality between gender in
America shows that prejudices and injustices are still imposed upon women; therefore, the
fight for women’s rights is ongoing. Sympathizing with this, in 2019, Nike launched a
meaningful campaign called “Dream Crazier”.
2. The introduction of the brand: Nike and the Campaign- “Dream Crazier”
Nike is not only known as the world's leading supplier of sports shoes and a major sports
equipment manufacturer but also as a representative of American culture and style. In
2017, the brand was valued at $29.6 billion, becoming the most valuable brand in the
sporting goods business (Forbes 2017). According to Fortune 500, Nike ranked 90th on
the list in 2019 ranking the largest corporations in the United States by total revenue. The
reason that can be mentioned contributing to Nike's success is that the company always
knows how to refresh itself and launch meaningful communication campaigns and the
“Dream Crazier” is one of them. This campaign was originated not only to support and
foster American female athletes to take part in the FIFA World Cup 2019 held in France
but also to celebrate 30 years since the slogan "Just do it" was created. The campaign
helped to reassert Nike’s encouragement for women when expressing themselves in
sports or in any moments they are called as crazies, which have led some changes in
each individual's perspective towards reaching a more monumental goal: gender equality.
From this point, it is obvious that the brand’s target audiences were women who yearn for
showing their inner personalities but are bound by the harsh social stereotypes; thereby,
the message of the campaign was that women can also achieve admirable achievements
in sports and in life, so be confident to do what this society calls crazy because dreams are
just crazy until we make it come true. It can be said that Nike initially had adopted strategic
planning, which brought the right direction for the following tactics afterward
By analyzing and giving evaluations about this campaign based on course concepts in
Foundations of Public Relations, this written essay will explain why “Dream Crazier” was
successful.
3. Evaluations based on Pubic Relations theories
3.1. Framing
It is easily recognizable that this campaign succeeded in pitching women's voices about
gender equality in sports, as well as in everyday life by using “Framing”. The “Media
Framing” helped Nike’s audiences to understand the existing issues. As stated by Entman(
1993), framing is the act of selecting certain aspects of life and making them more
prominent, more noticeable than others by emphasizing a problem description, a causal
interpretation, an ethical evaluation and a possible suggestion . In the campaign, Nike
drew public attention by using gender equality- the social issue that seemed to have been
alleviated but it was quietly smoldering in the reality of American society: In the country
that is considered as a "promised land" of freedom and equality as well as is the cradle of
the feminist movement, injustices which the society impose on women are existing.
According to Littlejohn, Foss and Oetzel (2017), framing allows each individual to give
evaluations based on their experiences; therefore, framing can be built in the interaction
between individuals, media, and culture. In the commercial, Nike tried to take back popular
comments which many people use to describe Nike’s target audiences such as “dramatic”,
“delusional”, “irrational” or just plain “crazy” to build sympathies leading to creating
interactions between the brand and its public. Additionally, the brand also used close-up
scenes about female athletes when they tried to break down social barriers to indulge in
"just for men" sports and when they devoted all their energy to rise up and gain admirable
achievements in their careers. This point created “moral evaluations” among their target
audiences; thereby, provoked “ treatment recommendations” afterward. Nike convinced
the intended audience that women also can succeed in sports; thus, women should
continue doing things that are considered as “crazy” because it can not be seen as “crazy”
anymore when it is done.
3.2. Media Relations
 Media relations is the next effective tactic which Nike used to reach their target public.
Obrien (2014) depicted media relations as the collaboration of a company with editors or
journalists for the purpose of conveying trustworthy key messages or information to
customers in appropriate media outlets. Thanks to state-of-the-art advancements,
communication channels have gone incredible transformations, developing from traditional
mass media outlets such as radio and television to modern channels such as Internet-
based channels; convergent (a content in many digital devices); and new reporters
(bloggers and Youtubers). It can be said that the formation of modern communication
channels has created an approach of bidirectional communication from the brand to the
target audience and vice versa. This approach allows brands to keep track of their
customers' behaviors and attitudes through social media. By increasing interaction with the
target audience through both traditional platforms and social media, businesses have the
chance to increase brand equity (Bruhn, Schoenmueller & Schafer 2012, p.781-782).
Applying this concept into the “Dream Crazier” campaign, Nike used both traditional and
new mass media outlets.
Television, radio, and newspapers are channels that have been in use for many years.
With the ability to approach a large public in a short time, this traditional medium is suitable
for raising brand awareness for the wide public rather than the intended target audiences
(Bruhn, Schoenmueller, & Schafer 2012, p.781-782). Moreover, due to the fact that it is
considered an expensive media channel, this approach is not suitable for small businesses
with limited financial capacity. However, with the strong economic potentials as mentioned
previously in “the introduction of the brand”, Nike debuted the campaign during the
Oscars- one of the most-anticipated media events of the year. This tactic allowed Nike to
approach around 27 million viewers watching this programme via cable televisions in
America. Despite reaching a large audience, this is not enough to convince me whether
Nike reached the right target audience that the brand had set or not. According to Bruhn,
Schoenmueller, & Schafer (2012 p. 781-782), this mass approach conveys the messaging
widely rather than deeply with the target publics.
In terms of online media, Nike has posted promotional videos on all of its social
networking sites including Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This
communication channel is called owned media. Owned media includes channels that are
owned by the brand themselves, and do not require any fees or restrictions when posting
content. The disadvantage of owned media, however, is that the effectiveness of these
channels often depends on the brand itself. In other words, if the brand is not strong
enough and well-known enough, the number of audiences access to and interact with
content posted on owned media is often quite low (Rognerud 2016). It is commendable for
Nike to appreciate its position in the market, so using this strategy is suitable which helped
Nike to gain certain achievements. Specifically, this campaign is 4 of the 10 most-watched
advertising videos of Nike on social networks. After 1 week of posting on Youtube, the
video reached 5 million views. On Twitter, the video has reached 31.6 million views and
655,000 hits, 188,000 retweets, 436,000 likes, and 5,700 comments. After 30 days on
Instagram, Dream Crazier reached 19 million views.
The next communication channel Nike used was Paid Media. The next communication
channel Nike used is named - Paid Media. Paid media are channels that an organization
needs to pay to publish its content. Due to being able to reach a large number of people
(thanks to the growth of the Internet), paid media is an effective tool to raise brand
awareness and attract immediate attention, especially when combined with influential
individuals. In this campaign, Nike chose Serena Williams - the famous American tennis
player to represent the campaign. Serena Williams is a well-known American tennis player
with nearly 12 million followers on Instagram. She also spoke openly about sports
discrimination, about the injustices she suffered and the difficulties she had to go through;
however, she overcame to gain admirable achievements with a 23-time Grand Slam
victory. Some may argue that these activities are not public relations because Nike used
the paid-for-media space to inform and persuade the target audiences. However, it can not
be denied that thanks to the presence of Serena Williams and her inspirational stories,
Nike can easily reach the third-party endorsement- which can be called as “Earned
Media”. Earned media can be discussions and brand feedback which is often considered
as a result of paid and owned media. Because it was created from "the third
endorsement", these contents often receive higher trusts than those produced by the
brand. Nike is clever when applying this tactic in improving its reputation and credibility. As
soon as the campaign was launched, a series of major US newspapers reported on the
campaign, including CBS, Yahoo, ESPN, Forbes, The Washington Post, and Front Office
Sports. Most of these newspapers have praised the humanity and the inspiration of the
campaign when voicing women's hearts about gender equality in sports, as well as in daily
life. Moreover, based on Deadline, there are more than 80% positive comments about this
campaign. Through all these figures, it can be seen that this tactic benefits both the brand
using Internet-based media as a tool and their publics because they can build an
expressive community around the brand. When the brand with an effective social platform
creates an interaction with the intended audience, it enables helping in building a
reputation (Bruhn, Schoenmueller, & Schafer 2012, p.781-782).
 4. Reflection
The first thing I got from analyzing this marketing campaign was that my academic
writing and researching skills have improved. I learned how to select information relevant
to my writing from various reliable sources, then I collected common points or based on
the sources with the most easy-to-understand interpretations. Because I understand that
knowledge is vast, and different researchers have different perspectives and arguments.
My instructor-Ms Hoa said that there is no point that is absolutely right or wrong, as long
as you have to give evidence to convince your audience to believe. The second thing this
assignment gives me is the opportunity to apply the theories I have learned in the
classroom to the real practices. This is the most authentic simulation of what I have to do
in the future as a Pr practitioner. By applying Public relations concepts such as Media
Framing, and media relations, I can understand why this point is more appropriate than
that point or why this tactic is not suitable. Since then I have realized more clearly the
importance of the theory, no longer see it as useless because only when I understand the
theory and have a good foundation, the practical application will be much simpler.

5. Conclusion
By analyzing and evaluating the “Dream Crazier” campaign based on Media Framing
and Media relations, this written essay gave background information about Nike as well as
its campaign and the explanations why this is such a successful campaign.
6. References
Bruhn, M, Schoenmueller, V & Schafer, D 2012, 'Are social media replacing traditional
media in terms of brand equity creation?', Manager Research Review, August, vol. 35, no.
9, pp. 781-782.

Entman, R 1993, 'Framing: Toward clarification of fractured paradigm', Journal of

Communication, December, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 51- 53.

Forbes 2017, The world's most valuable brand 2017, Forbes, New York, USA.

Fortune 2019, Fortune 500 Companies 2019, Fortune, USA.

Geiger, A & Parker, K 2018, For Women’s History Month, a look at gender gains- and
gaps- in the U.S., Fact Tank, Pew Research Center, Washington, DC, USA.

Gramlich, J 2017, 10 things we learned about gender issues in the U.S. in 2017, Fact
Tank, Pew Research Center, Washington, DC, USA.

Hannam, J 2011, Feminism, 2nd edn, Routledge, Oxfordshire, England.

Littlejohn, S, Foss, K & Oetzel, J 2017, Theories of human communication, 11th edn,
Waveland Press, Long Grove, Illinois.

Obrien, A 2014, 'Public Relations vs. Media Relations', Everything-PR Public relations
news, September, viewed 14 April 2020, <https://everything-pr.com/public-relations-media-
relations/52598/>.

Rognerud, J 2016, 'Owned Media, Earned Media, or Paid Media: Which is Better?',
Chaosmap, viewed 16 April 2020, <https://chaosmap.com/blog/owned-earned-paid-
media/>.