Sponsorship Symposium: Reebok Aiming To Complete Turnaround

Becker Aiming To Complete  Reebok Turnaround In '10

Reebok is targeting '10 as the year that the brand will complete its turnaround after being acquired by adidas in '06, Reebok President & CEO Uli Becker said this morning during a presentation beginning the second day of the SBJ/SBD Relay Worldwide Sports Sponsorship Symposium. The company is preparing to launch two new products next year -- an innovative fitness and running shoe and a new line of cleats for baseball, football and soccer. Becker showed a teaser video of the fitness and running shoe due out next year. Reebok is billing the unnamed shoe as having the lure of a running shoe, the versatility of a crosstrainer and the technology of Reebok's Easy Tone concept. The blue shoe shown features a squiggly yellow sole that looks more like a graph of the stock market than a traditional shoe sole. Becker: "I'm walking and running in (these) shoes a couple of months already. That product makes me want to run more. The test results with that product shows for the first time we have a meaningful return on energy created.” Reebok will back the launch of the running-trainer shoe with the launch of new cleats featuring a technology that allows users to custom-fit the shoes to their feet. Becker: "Whether its baseball, American football, soccer, we have a meaningful proposition that differentiates ourselves from anyone else. That is the ammunition you need to talk about [the brand] in a different way."

NEW MARKETING CAMPAIGN COMING: Reebok also is working on a new marketing campaign that will have a brand effect in every message. The brand dropped McGarry-Bowen as its agency and hired DDB. Together, they are working on a print campaign that shows an image of athletes and words like "ReeLief," "ReeFocus," "ReeFly," and "Reeligion." Becker said “everything we touch in 2010 will have a brand effect. It won't matter if it's about American football or women's fitness. It will have a brand effect that makes it clear what the brand is."

BEST FOOT FORWARD: The news about the new product lines and new marketing plan punctuated a presentation that took the audience through Reebok's efforts to reinvent itself over the last three years. When adidas bought the company, there was little brand consistency, specifically in regards to the signature, Becker said. To address that, the brand is looking to use the same message worldwide and rely on one signature, Reebok. Becker said, "It's about one brand, one world, one voice, at the end of the day. We want to create a perception around the world that is the same no matter where you are in the world.” To support that signature, the brand has shifted from demographic segmentation in its marketing to psychographic segmentation. It no longer targets young consumers but targets consumers in all age groups who are passionate and energetic. Becker said, "(People my age) have a completely different self-esteem today with what's right, what's wrong, what's cool, and don't look to the kids nowadays. We're after people who want to have a clear point of view, whether they're 40, 30, 20 or 15 doesn't make a difference. This opens you up.”