Promoting Tai Chi to the American People: A Marketing Perspective

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Conference Track

Panels and Special Sessions

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

Starting with a discussion on the physical and mental benefits of Tai Chi as a recreational sport, this symposium focuses on understanding the market environment of Tai Chi and formulating effective promotional procedures to enhance Tai Chi participation among American people. As the U.S. society grows older, with an ever greater portion of older adults, the epidemic of older people losing their balance and falling has a huge adverse effect on the U.S. economy and people’s quality of life. The improvement of postural and gait stability has attracted the attention of researchers and policy makers. Tai chi has the potential to be a very effective rehabilitation intervention for improvement of stability and prevention of falls. However, according to recent national surveys, the popularity of tai chi has decreased in recent years despite of its recognized health benefits. In fact, tai chi is among the least popular sport activities; less than three million people participate in tai chi and only one third of them are regular participants. In the meantime, another Asian sport, taekwondo (TKD), has seen elevated growth and popularity. To a great extent, achievements in TKD’s high popularity, participation rate, and international recognition are attributable to the concerted efforts that the Korean government and Korean community in the U.S. have made over the years to promote this sport. Many successful experiences and lessons learned may be applied to promote tai chi participation. Following the SWOT analysis procedures postulated by Stotlar (2009), a market environment analysis was conducted in this study to identify a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and obstacles associated with tai chi promotions. Consequentially, a marketing plan is formulated that stipulates tai chi target markets, marketing objectives, marketing mix, and a management system to implement, coordinate, control, and evaluate the execution of the plan.

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Digital Commons@Georgia Southern License

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