Author: Shreya Sanjay

Brand audit-

Company: Nike, Inc. is an American multinational association that is involved in the design, development, manufacturing and worldwide marketing and sales of athletic apparel, footwear, accessories, equipment and services. Apart from its own brand, Nike market its products under Nike Pro, Nike+, Nike Golf, Nike Blazers, Air Jordan, Air Max and other as well as subsidiaries including brands  Jordan, Hurley Int. and Converse. Nike sponsors many high-profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of “Just Do It” and the Swoosh logo (which represents the wing of the Greek goddess Nike).

Competitors: Nike’s top competitors include VF Corporation, lululemon athletica, Under Armour, Adidas, Reebok, PUMA, Skechers, New Balance, FILA, ASICS and Anta.

Context: Nike’s mission is what drives it to do everything possible to expand human potential. They do that by creating groundbreaking sport innovations, by making our products more sustainably, by building a creative and diverse global team and by making a positive impact in communities and work.

Customers: Nike targets both high end and low-end market segments. They cater to all genders and age groups. From products for high performance athletes, to basic trainers stay at home parents and children.

Culture: Nike believes in diversity and equality. As quoted by the co-founder Bill Bowerman, “If you have a body, you are an athlete”, Nike promises to deliver quality products to anyone who needs it. Nike believes in having a positive impact, accomplishing more together and being bold.

Brand film-

Rationale-

We chose to do a brand film on the famous ‘Nike AirMax’ shoes. The shoes provide a comfortable and breathable walking experience for the consumer. The shoes feel light and airy to walk on. We wanted to focus on one of the main elements of the shoe- air. We chose to have a storyline and also incorporate our main element ‘air’ in abstract manner. Air cannot be seen, however it can be felt, we came up with the idea of having the main character having air blown on her throughout the film, making her hair fly and capturing her expression as this is being done. For the abstract part of our film, we decided to capture a dancer doing various movements that depict certain feelings which are linked to our main element ‘air’, along with a few shots which we thought went well together. The concept of focusing on one element and adding abstract shots for an artistic touch felt new and refreshing to us as a team, and decided to go ahead with it.

I can confidently say that I have an account on the majority of the social media websites or apps that are popular today. I sometimes lose track of time while using these apps since they’re extremely engaging and I can proudly say that I’ve learnt quite a bit from just scrolling through random pages on these apps, from digital marketing tips and tricks to who’s dating who. As a media student myself, browsing social media also acts as a guide of what to do and what not to do.

I thought I’d split my thoughts amongst 2 of the most used apps on my phone; Instagram and Twitter. According to the screen time tracker on my phone, I use all three of these apps for a whopping 4 hours put together- yikes. So, I decided to look into what I was doing on these apps for hours, and since I have a public account on one app and a private one on another, I thought it would be a fair yet interesting comparison.

I have a private Instagram account. I post pictures of bits and pieces of my life, the sweet and sour. I look at it from a ‘leisure’ point of view, since I post content for my family and friends to know what I’m up to for the most part and for myself to edit pictures and in a way show off my lifestyle. Since I have a private account, I post stuff for my friends as well sometimes to make their day a little brighter by posting a picture of something that reminds me of them or even a cute selfie we took together, without worrying about jeopardizing their privacy.

By having a private account I lose out on gaining incentives from posting, but I enjoy privacy a lot more at the moment. Ads do pop up on my feed, based on what I search for on Google etc, but I just scroll past them most of the time if it’s not of importance or fails to catch my eye. I do know that by looking at these ads and interacting with them, I am in fact contributing to the algorithm and the advertisers themselves. Although it does seem like more of a ‘leisure’ activity, I am technically helping a company out even though I am not rewarded for it at all.

Moving on to Twitter, I do have a very public account. I got into the Twitter game fairly late, I initially had a private account, didn’t post anything and would log on about twice a month and call it a day. When the second wave of Covid hit India we all found ourselves back in the dreaded loop of lockdowns and uncertainty. Naturally, my social media usage increased, I found myself using Twitter a lot more often and built the courage to make my profile public. I ended up posting a meme about something that was going on in my city and it went viral amongst the Tamil community on Twitter. I found myself to be on Twitter a lot more from that point onwards, I continued creating memes and posting relatable content. My content was mainly targeting the Tamil and Chennai based community on Twitter, and from there I grew. I now have a following of 8000+, while the memes seem all fun and games, I look at this activity of mine as ‘labour’. I have to entertain thousands of people while keeping in mind all the sentiments and beliefs of people on the app.

I cannot simply post whatever I want to, rather I have to filter my content and deliver what my followers want to see. My content needs to stay relevant and engaging. I sometimes do get a little bummed out when a post or two doesn’t get the engagement I hope for, and I understand how taxing it can be to keep giving the audience exactly what they want to see. I do not get paid or gain any other incentives from my posts on Twitter, but I did manage to grab the attention of some celebrities and influencers. As a media student, I am intrigued to see what could potentially happen if I do monetise my posts and so on.  

In conclusion, I feel that users are not rewarded enough for their interactions on social media and we are mostly seen as tools they use to expand their business.

I, just like anyone else, find myself laying in bed, browsing through TikTok endlessly. I do it to pass the time and find myself trapped in a loop of being glued to my phone for the sole purpose of watching 30-second videos of strangers on the internet. While I find the majority of TikTok content to be interesting, instructive, and light-hearted, I have seen a lot of changes in the algorithm and believe it is indeed biased in terms of which creators appear in my feed. As a woman of colour, I’m always fascinated when I see a creator from my race on my feed, but it’s not something I see all that frequently. Not nearly as much as I see white creators’ content pop up regularly. Of course, the algorithm filters out the content I want to view, but it’s not as broad as it claims to be.

TikTok’s rapid leap to fame since its launch in 2016 has ushered in a whole new era of influencer culture, but not without criticism. Let’s take the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement for example. Several creators claim they’ve seen a drop in viewership and interaction on their videos after publishing content in favour of the Black Lives Matter movement, or that they’ve recently witnessed instances where TikTok’s community standards weren’t being applied fairly to Black producers. Even though TikTok pledged to make good changes for its Black producers, some users claim they’re still witnessing the same patterns of discrimination on the platform.

Shadowbanning, which refers to the alleged practice of restricting the spread of material without alerting creators that it violates any community norms, has been a growing source of worry among users on platforms such as TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. It’s impossible to prove whether or not shadow banning is taking place due to the nature of the notion. Some argue that bias in active users’ behaviours, rather than purposeful blatant racism, is the most powerful predictor of what material users view. However, TikTok’s growth in popularity amid the coronavirus outbreak, along with claims that it has been restricting videos by people of colour, particularly Black producers, has raised the question of whether the platform supports its Black creators.

When I did some digging to find actual creators who spoke about the issue, I came across- Jimi Fatoki, also known as Trill Jimi in the TikTok community, stating that TikTok is his major source of income. The 18-year-old calls his postings “uplifting” and claims he focuses on positivity, love, truth, and information.

I started getting censored, heavy. My videos would get taken down a lot – like multiple times a day. I would be blocked from posting temporarily for a week at a time, or a few days. My actual account got taken down four times,

Jimi Fatoki

However, Fatoki, a Black content producer, alleges he has been banned from the app several times and that many of his videos have been shadowbanned, which means the platform reduced the number of views on a user’s post, sometimes to zero, without informing the user.

In reaction to concerns over anti-Black filtering allegations on TikTok, they issued a message to the Black community on June 1, 2020. TikTok presented a progress report later that month, highlighting their changes to promote Black producers.

All of this leads me to wonder how much TikTok genuinely does to support its creators. Adisson Rae and Charli D’Amelio are the buzz of the town for their dance routines, although the black choreographers who created the routine are given no credit. From walking the red carpet at the Met Gala to appearing on Jimmy Fallon’s programme, it’s possible that another creator might have sat in the same chair. Some lecturers pointed out that the majority of individuals who develop the code are white, and that even if they appear to be welcoming and open-minded, they have internalised racism that affects their judgments.

When are we going to see meaningful change in the realm of digital media? Most importantly, when are these platforms going to have an anti-racist lens themselves?

It’s no doubt that technology has had a significant and fundamental influence on retail brands’ relationships with their customers. Consumers have never been more powerful than they are now, thanks to social media, which allows them to connect with businesses they love and, perhaps more crucially, help form perceptions of those they don’t. Forward-thinking marketers have chosen to interact fully with their consumers, even using their loyalty to increase revenue. Authenticity is promoted via user-generated content. When compared to brand-created material, consumers are substantially more likely to believe user-generated content is real. Since only over half of companies develop real content, this gives brands a significant reputation boost. These efforts tend to build trust. Modern consumers want to know what they’re getting before they buy it, whether it’s a product, a service, or an experience, and what better way to persuade them than to allow them to communicate with the brand and other customers who have purchased the same goods. Most crucially, UGC has a dual nature from the perspective of brands: it suggests a more participatory type of creation while also being incredibly cost-effective as a method of creating free content.

One of the most memorable and successful crowdsourced pieces of user-generated content is Lay’s “Do Us a Flavour” campaign. Shorty “Industry Award for Best Overall Twitter Presence” and Shorty “Industry Award for Best Consumer Brand” are among the honours it has received. Why? It might be the $1 million cash reward or the fact that the winner is chosen by the public. In any case, the customer feels in command of their million-dollar prize, which is rather appealing.

Furthermore, by advertising their contribution and soliciting votes, the contest pushes participants to actively expand their own social media following. As a consequence, organic user-generated content is produced, which reaches a wide range of customers. Lays also teamed up with Facebook to transform the “Like” button into an “I’d Eat That” button. The best contributions were shown on a revolving billboard on the Facebook page’s cover photo. After the deadline, a group of judges, including celebrity chef Michael Symon and actress Eva Longoria, helped narrow down the entries to the top three. Customers were then able to purchase and experience the three varieties in shops. PepsiCo’s first crowdsourcing initiative in the United States was a big success, generating value for both the company and its customers.

Cheesy Garlic Bread, Chicken & Waffles, and Sriracha were chosen as the three finalist tastes. The company’s objective was to develop social media awareness among its 18-34-year-old millennial clients and get 1.2 million taste suggestions. They expected that this would result in a +3% increase in sales. 3.8 million entries were received throughout the ten-month campaign, which resulted in approximately 22.5 million Facebook page visits and a sales increase of +12% year over year. Lays decided to expand the campaign overseas since it was so successful.

The main advantage of Lays’ crowdsourcing effort is that it allowed the company to get low-cost insights about consumer preferences and habits. The company also raised favourable brand recognition, particularly among millennials, whom it had previously struggled to recruit. In addition, the Company was able to significantly reduce the product development life cycle by introducing a product in 10 months rather than the customary 15-20 months. Due to product development being outsourced to the public, there are also financial savings associated with a reduced requirement for a big Research & Development workforce.

By placing the power in the hands of the audience, Lays is proving that they trust their customers’ ideas and believe they will help their business. Social media was a vital component in building ties with the company and target audience due to its high demand and rising usage.

This UGC, in my opinion, was the most innovative, successful, and well-thought-out in terms of money, time, and total investment. This UGC is directly related to Freedman’s point about how cost-effective campaigns maybe, as Lays would have spent far more money if the campaign had not taken place.

It’s now being acceptable after decades of women being advised to cover their natural body hair. This trend has been pushed to the forefront by an independent razor company, Billie, in addition to celebrities and women throughout the country embracing their body hair. Other than the conventional razor commercials, which show women shaving sections of their bodies that are already silky smooth and hairless, Billie’s ‘Project body hair’ was the first-ever razor hair to truly reveal female body hair.

The commercial emphasises the importance of body hair being ‘real,’ even if the rest of the world believes it isn’t and turns a blind eye towards it. The campaign’s creators believe that ignoring body hair is a form of body shaming because women are expected to maintain specific grooming standards.

The advertisement normalises body hair, especially pubic hair, which is frequently considered taboo since it is just that- normal. Body hair develops on all genders, and it is not unsanitary when it is on a woman. The advertisement highlights that the decision to shave one’s body hair is a personal one, not one made by society. The ad strategy appears to be working. According to Gooley, the ad’s creator, the company experienced a rush of support on social media following the video. The brand’s razors were sold out in the week after the video. This confirms what the company already knew: honest representation in advertising is in high demand among women.

When women were asked how they felt about the commercial, the majority stated it was freeing, and that viewing the truthful ad video about the beauty of body hair as a 12-year-old would have been liberating. Maybe it took this long for hair-removal industries to accept body hair since the majority of razor companies are controlled by enormous organisations that are dominated by males. The commercial was directed by a woman, and Billie was formed by women.

From a key theoretical standpoint, this commercial is built on the themes of empowerment and confidence development. This commercial is connected to neoliberalism because it encourages women to challenge societal conventions by allowing them to grow their body hair if they wish to and focusing on only removing it IF they choose to do so; an individual choice. Of course, the advertisement is tailored to adhere to feminist beliefs, but it does so without being obnoxious. Rather, it creates a natural setting in which women will feel liberated.

“If you ever want to shave..”

Project body hair

 As Sarah Banet Weiser points out, firms are developing advertisements that appear to empower women while still trying to sell things, this is using popular feminism and visibility economies for commercial gain. The ad’s theme harmonised with neoliberalism’s idea of maintaining personal freedom. Another point Sarah said that grabbed my attention was that when it comes to body positivity in advertisements, we have to look at all sides—the good and the bad. In this case, misogynists and some women were critical of Billie’s commercial for two reasons: first, they objected to the actual and raw video of body hair being shown on mainstream media, and second, they complained about the way the ad depicted women of various ethnicities and body types.

 In contrast, there is a point to be made: all ‘Femvertising‘ is not valid support for women’s empowerment activities, and some have been criticized for using it only as a marketing tool.

Billie’s commercial has generated a lot of buzz in the beauty and grooming industry. It has provided a chance to reflect on the information that is truly required to promote things without relying on specific beliefs as a selling factor. The advertisement strikes a healthy balance between reality and the ideas of feminism.

The Indian media sector as a whole promise to be highly ‘Democratic,’ although this may not appear to citizens. The censor board in India is an excellent illustration of how the country fails to safeguard democracy. Around the world, the Indian censor board is notorious for making the most cuts in films. In India, this tendency is reinforced via all types of media. While India has some of the world’s biggest newspaper readership, it also has one of the highest rates of media bias and one of the lowest press freedom scores among democracies. This media bias has the potential to contribute to democratic backsliding, and media outlets must address it. Only then will India’s media be able to do its job correctly, which is to inform rather than sway the audience.

So, why does India, a country with a free press and an independent court, do so poorly on global media freedom indices? The media has ceased asking tough questions about the administration and its policies as a whole. They are afraid to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his senior ministers because they are awestruck by them. Unfortunately, many have become mouthpieces for government propaganda. Some are unafraid to promote religious polarisation and even hostility in the name of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s electoral objective (BJP). The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is causing alarm among many journalists.

Given the growing overlap between social media and traditional news outlets, this crackdown will only serve to further stifle press freedom. Furthermore, government efforts to restrain the media hurt journalists, infringing on individuals’ rights and physical safety in an undemocratic manner. Because of the Modi government’s onslaught on journalistic freedom. In reality, in 2020, the government jailed numerous journalists for criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction to the covid outbreak.

As a result of the crackdown on journalists, many authoritarian nations have created an insecure atmosphere for free reporting. As a result, we are left to wonder about the extent of true “democracy” practised by the Indian media, including the safety and well-being of innumerable journalists, publishers, and media outlets.

‘ScoopWhoop‘ Media is a New Delhi-based Indian digital media startup. It has a variety of online content verticals and is a news organisation that produces web series, documentaries, and current affairs reporting with a concentration on video production, primarily for teenagers and young adults. It also includes various forms of entertainment and information. ScoopWhoop began as a listicles-focused online site in August 2013, inspired by BuzzFeed. “These images from a Hindu lesbian wedding would make you go all aww,” was the title of the blog’s first post.

Within a day, the article had received over half a million views, providing the incentive for the blog to become a regular endeavour. Posts concerning the LGBTQ+ community are relatively new in India, as it appears to be ‘bold’ at a time when people are still learning about and accepting the movement. Politically speaking, it is hasn’t been accepted entirely although over the years the government has been taking steps to understand the community.

 For decades, the concept of democracy has been important in India, and it has recently received a lot of attention from media outlets. These platforms in India, such as ScoopWhoop, create content that a vast audience wants to view, and they do it through polling, quizzing, and creating interactive Instagram/Facebook stories, among other things. These methods of collecting and producing content satisfy McChesney’s definition of democratisation since they give the people more power over decision-making.

The company then ventured into news media and investing to attain shares, and grew capital from there. Companies have decided to support and invest as a result of the current news that democratises material that is ethical and deserving of citizens actively consuming since it considers diverse voices and opinions. ScoopWhoop continues to defy preconceptions and boundaries by publishing news that would otherwise go unnoticed by mainstream media. It allows people from all walks of life a voice and serves as a guide. The majority of readers believe it makes them feel involved and educated about what is truly going on in the country from a social rather than a political standpoint.

Hi there! Welcome to my blog, I’m a 21 year old media student currently pursuing my masters in media and communications at the University of the Arts London.

Why media you ask? Well, for as long as I can remember I’ve always been glued onto the TV or the laptop. Most would call that a ‘bad habit’, but I decided to turn that bad habit of mine into an actual career. So here I am, giving you all bits and pieces from my brain about topics that I find quite interesting and I hope you do to!

Happy reading, feel free to put down your thoughts and comments 🙂