Mixed signals could hit Reebok's return

After a year that was dominated by the advertising pyrotechnics of its two major competitors, Reebok finds itself at something of a crossroads in 2005. Its key rivals -- Adidas and Nike -- garnered acres of newsprint for their flashy advertising campaigns, and sponsorhips of such global icons as David Beckham and Muhammad Ali. The Reebok marketing team's retreat from the region in 2001 hardly helped matters. Since re-entering in early 2004, however, the brand has begun to display glimpses of the kind of positioning that is reaping rewards in Western markets. Reebok's marketing strategy in the US has been to position itself at the confluence of sports, entertainment and lifestyle -- particularly hip-hop culture -- and it has tied up with hip-hop superstars such as 50 Cent and Jay-Z. In Asia, a key sign of this new approach came from its sponsorship of MTV basketball and hip-hop show Hoopla. Indeed, the brand's recently-signed 10-year pact with the National Basketball Association (NBA) allows it to design, manufacture, market and sell official NBA sportswear for the Asia-Pacific region. The presence of Chinese sensation Yao Ming as a Reebok endorser provides the brand with even more ammunition to take its basketball-centred message to China's youth, and its sponsorship of the NBA's recent China Games allowed it to showcase Yao in an ideal light. The recent launch of the 'DJ Shoe' line, meanwhile, signalled a willingness to create compelling branding for the Asian audience, by tapping a Japanese agency and Asian DJs to design the shoe, now set for global rollout in 2005. Instead of above-the-line, Reebok will rely on 'street buzz' to spread the word about the new product. Despite the promise of these initiatives, however, Reebok continues to lag behind its bigger rivals. Creating niche credibility has obvious appeal, but the brand must tread carefully so that it does not look -- as one of its own marketing executives recently put it -- like a "big brand that doesn't get it".