Dmytro Zolotukhin / Obozrevatel
Yaryna Klyuchkovska recalled an absolutely brilliant analogy of Vladyslav Heraskevych’s case with Colin Kaepernick’s case, the American football player who kneeled during the American anthem, causing incredible outrage among thousands of people.
The company Nike decided to take a risk and use this energy in their campaign. I showed this case in my classes at the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” in a crisis communications course.
The case was unique in that it demonstrated what I always taught: that a brand never fights. It satisfies the needs of its consumers. I showed this case because the brand consciously went to war, expecting resistance (the brand’s sneakers were burned across the US), and it went to this war to win an incomparably bigger prize — a story!
When I watch this video, I almost get ecstatic from the layers of meanings embedded in it.
We now have a unique self-sacrifice by one athlete that could become a historical turning point.
Regarding Bubka and other IOC members, I will soon prepare a couple of investigations. The Ministry of Sports should not sully their hands with this.
But Yaryna subtly and accurately captured the opportunities this case presents. Here’s what I would do:
- We need to reach out to brands willing to go to war against the IOC in exchange for potential extra profits from Heraskevych wearing their accessories or clothing. We need rebellious companies that see commercial benefit in our info-war.
- We must digitize the case immediately, no matter what.
The global game Roblox implemented Olympic World on its platform.
We need to immediately negotiate with the company to create and promote Heraskevych skins and helmet within the game. If they don’t agree, go to the Roblox programming communities and do network promotion.
- Digitize images of deceased Olympians. Yes, this is a sensitive issue, and cynicism must be avoided. But their memory can be honored in different ways. There is room for discussion.
- Commercialize the story with the helmet. Merchandise should be everywhere.
- Scale up coverage. Heraskevych must become open source, available for anyone to use. To do this, we must prevent any directives from the Ministry of Sports, NOC, or federations. Instead, invite lecturers and experts who could work with federations, explaining to coaches and athletes the tactics of behavior in the communication space. However, this should be synchronized with the Ministry of Sports.
This is a black swan.
We can still fly on it if we don’t get stuck on proving the IOC’s wrongness, but rewrite the global rules of Olympic sports existence.
That is the difference between the reflexive approach and the approach of opponents. Opponents try to win within the existing rules framework. Ukrainian Buddhists change the rules to suit themselves.
