Nike Touts New Women's Trainer, Counters Toning Shoe Claims

Nike is rolling out new ads in women's magazines for its Air Max Trainer One shoe, which the company says "better helps women in the activities that they do" than competitors' toning shoes, according to Darren Rovell of CNBC. The toning shoe market "led by Skechers and Reebok will surpass" $1B in sales this year, and the Nike ads elude to the "quick fix that toning shoes say they are." Nike is "telling the marketplace the shoes with the rocker bottoms that claim to better tone your body through built-in resistance won't be made" by the company. Nike Senior Manager of Media Relations Derek Kent in a statement said, "Nike knows you have to train to tone. There are no shortcuts. It's about combining exercising with proven technology to get real results." Skechers Fitness Group President Leonard Armato said in a statement, "Revolutionary products at first make people uncomfortable, but people are demanding more from their footwear. You can decide whether you want to wear resistance shoes, but you can't say our products don't tax your muscles." Rovell noted Nike "obviously has its tremendous brand equity to protect here, but some are still wondering if this is a similar mistake they made in the mid '80s when they ignored the women's aerobic shoe kick invented by Reebok" ("Squawk on the Street," CNBC, 8/3).

Brook Helps Unveil New Reebok Billboard In London

ON THE OFFENSIVE: CNBC.com's Rovell wrote, "Nike doesn't usually respond to what other companies do. They don't get into a back and forth because they don't have to. The toning shoe category has blown up so quickly and blindsided them that now they have to go on the offensive by publicly telling their brand fans that it's not that they're too late to the game -- it's that they didn't want to play in that game because they don't believe in it" (CNBC.com, 8/2).

FLAUNTING IT: BRAND REPUBLIC's Sara Kimberley reports Reebok today is unveiling a billboard at Battersea Power Station in London that will feature model Kelly Brook "wearing nothing but a pair of trainers." The ad, via M&C Saatchi, London, depicts Brook "lying naked on her stomach, flaunting her trainers" with the words "Kelly Brook wears Reebok EasyTone." The campaign "aims to show women under 30 that wearing the trainers can help tone muscles." The ad will run until Aug. 15 and "sits against the iconic backdrop of the power station, which is passed by 670,000 people" during a two-week period (BRANDREPUBLIC.com, 8/4).