Reebok during Sunday's Giants-Packers playoff game on Fox will debut its "first global marketing campaign featuring CrossFit," a type of workout that combines "sprinting, gymnastics, powerlifting, kettlebell training, weightlifting, rowing, and medicine ball training, among other activities," according to Jenn Abelson of the BOSTON GLOBE. The TV spot will "feature chiseled athletes, but it also aims to show that CrossFit is as much about community, confidence building, competition, and camaraderie as it is about exercise and training." Reebok partnered with the CrossFit brand, which is "based in California, in 2010 and decided to convert a brick warehouse at Reebok’s headquarters into a CrossFit 'box,'’ or workout center, with six coaches and a variety of equipment." About 425 employees are taking part in the fitness program. The success at the company's Canton, Mass., HQs -- "about 35 percent of the workforce is regularly taking CrossFit classes -- prompted Reebok to launch these programs at 20 offices around the world." Other companies, such as Google, have "expressed interest in setting up corporate CrossFit programs." CrossFit co-Founder Andy Stumpf said that the partnership with Reebok has "helped elevate the brand, especially with Reebok’s sponsorship of the CrossFit Games." The games were "aired for the first time on ESPN last year, and Reebok helped increase the purse prize to $250,000, from $25,000." Reebok also began "selling CrossFit footwear and apparel online last fall, and it expects to expand the line this year" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/11).
