Reebok ads star Roddick as shoe/apparel line debuts

Reebok is launching a new Andy Roddick tennis sneaker and apparel line Aug. 24 as part of a multimedia campaign in New York to promote its star tennis endorser around the U.S. Open.

A Reebok billboard featuring Andy Roddick is up in New York City’s Herald Square.

The initiative includes billboards around the city, including along the Grand Central Parkway, near the Midtown Tunnel, on the boardwalk leading to Arthur Ashe Stadium and in Herald Square in midtown Manhattan.

The campaign also will include a fleet of mobile billboards in and around Manhattan. In addition, Roddick debuts this month in a print ad in such publications as ESPN The Magazine, Tennis Magazine and the U.S. Open official program.

Reebok declined to comment on the campaign.

Roddick’s agent, Ken Meyerson of SFX Sports, said: “We have been pushing for Reebok to take advantage of Andy Roddick, and I am glad they are responding. It is a fully integrated marketing plan, and it will be super cool.”

In past years, Reebok has highlighted Venus Williams during the U.S. Open. Williams is no longer under contract with Reebok, even though she continues to wear the company’s apparel.

Roddick, last year’s U.S. Open champion, has become the sneaker maker’s top tennis endorser. His contract with the company expires next spring, and the tussle among sneaker companies over his services looks to be intense. He is ranked No. 2 in the world.

The unveiling of his sneaker and apparel line will occur Aug. 24 at the Reebok Club on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. His recent line is called the Fig Jam. Reebok would not say whether the new line keeps that moniker or assumes a new one.

The U.S. Open begins Aug. 30 and is scheduled to end Sept. 12.