Reebok Wants To Rejuvenate Itself.

This year,

Has entered the 60 year old "flower year", but now they want to rejuvenate.

In 1958, the two grandsons of the British J. W Forster set up a company called Reebok (Reebok), adhering to the family craft produced by grandpa to track and field athletes running shoes, and continue to produce.

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In 1979, American Paul Farman (Paul Fireman) obtained the exclusive right to use Reebok trademark in North America.

Farman opened for Reebok in the US.

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In 1980s, women in the entire North American continent were led by the Hollywood actress Jane Fonda to do aerobics, which led to the emergence of tights, leg warmers and fitness shoes.

Farman decided to let Reebok aerobic exercise shoes for these users.

Soon, a soft leather sports shoes called Free Style became a necessary equipment for women.

Reebok's annual sales revenue rose from $4 million to $1 billion 400 million in the short five years of the end of 80s, and the company also successfully went public in second years.

Reebok's business is getting bigger and bigger, and its scope of entry is wider.

Reebok has signed NBA stars such as Iverson and Yao Ming, and has also sponsored equipment for NFL, MLB and other North American sports leagues.

However, the good days of Reebok did not last.

In 2006, Reebok was bought by Adidas, the German sports brand, for $3 billion 800 million.

However, under the command of Adidas, Reebok's development is not smooth.

Since 2008, Reebok's annual sales revenue has experienced an increase from 1 billion 717 million euros to 1 billion 940 million euros in 2011, and then dropped to 1 billion 578 million euros in 2014, eventually rebounding back to 1 billion 843 million euros in 2017.

In recent years,

It is important to achieve stable recovery and strategic adjustment of the company strategy.

At the bottom of the business, Reebok thought of the advantage of pushing the company to the top - fitness.

At present, it is the era of steady development of the fitness trend in Europe and the United States and the rapid spread of emerging markets.

Reebok's Global CEO

This year is 56 years old.

He was a veteran of Reebok and joined the brand family in 2004. He is also the chief designer to help Reebok get back to fitness.

Recently, in an interview with us industry media Footwear News, O 'Toole talked about the way of Reebok's return.

Return to fitness

The first step in Reebok's reform took place in 2010, when O was also the chief marketing officer of Reebok, helping Reebok join CrossFit, a sports and fitness organization that was not well-known at that time.

CrossFit is a fitness system established by American fitness coach Greg Glassman in 2000. It focuses on the comprehensive and basic ability training of human body. Since its establishment, more than 14000 clubs have been established in the world, and Forbes valued it at $4 billion in 2015.

Since then, Reebok and other fitness organizations and companies have reached long-term cooperation, including Les Mills, Ragnar Relay Series relay race series and comprehensive fighting UFC.

In terms of spokesperson, Reebok also recruited a number of high-profile spokesmen for women's strength, including Ariana Grande, Ariane Grande Instagram Gigi (Gigi Hadid Hadid), Gail Gadot (Gal Gadot), "magic woman" actor, and co launched with well-known fashion designer Pyer Moss and Vitoria Beckham.

Gail Gadot, the "magic woman" actor, became the latest spokesman for Reebok.

In an interview, O said: "Reebok has made great progress in 80s, complying with the trend of group fitness and aerobic exercise.

We are now paying attention to consumers who are obsessed with fitness and sports life.

People's enthusiasm for fitness has always existed. They used to do aerobics, and now they do CrossFit, Les Mills and Ragnar Relays relay races.

Speaking of why so much attention is paid to cooperation with fitness organizations, O said that these projects are projects that can build up their own communities.

"Consumer participation is deeper and connectivity is stronger, and the magic of fitness will become more prominent.

When we cooperate with Ragnar Relay, you can see the aggregation of this group.

We have built such a community in the runners who always advocate individual actions. "

Cooperation with CrossFit also stems from this logic.

"At that time, the CrossFit specification was very small, and people would ask," why do you invest so much attention on such a small thing? "But after experiencing CrossFit, visited their gym, we realized that this is the future of fitness.

O said to Footwear News, "we live in a digitally strong link world, but at many levels, we still want to establish realistic links.

We want to look at other people's eyes and work side by side with them, and we see this potential in the CrossFit movement.

However, according to the report of Forbes in June, CrossFit accused Reebok Co of fraud and dishonesty in the commercial relations between the two sides in the past eight years and owed CrossFit about $4 million 800 thousand in royalties.

Cast a shadow over the future of this cooperation.

Find inspiration from classics

Although in fitness equipment

Reebok is facing fierce competition. O still has great confidence in the company's insisting line.

"Behind the slogan of Reebok triangle Logo and" Be More Human ", it has a very rich historical accumulation and profound significance.

These histories are the key to our success in the markets where we devote our energies to training, as well as consumers who act as our customers, "he said.

O introduced that Reebok's classic products are very rich, which can provide continuous support for current product development, and carry out modern innovation on the basis of existing products.

"In the early years when we changed our fitness direction, we constantly excavated classic products such as Free Style, the XO Fit, Club C, the Workout and the Classic the series.

We can do that now, but tell the new story in a new way. "

For example, Reebok has a series called DMX in 90s, using a mobile air technology, which can move the middle of the sneakers and make the feet feel more comfortable.

Reebok is currently exploring ways to make this technology more suitable for current applications.

"In 2020, we will launch a brand new DMX."

O said it was not an easy decision to abandon other hot selling categories such as basketball.

"We have given up 500 million or even 600 million euros in business, which has caught up with the volume of some companies in our industry.

This gives Adidas group the courage to praise, but from a long-term perspective, this simplified business decision will only make us stronger.

Proving itself in the United States and finding growth in China

When Adidas bought Reebok at that time, one consideration was to arrange a "market disrupator" in the North American base of rival Nike.

However, in recent years, Adidas has found that Nike has indeed slowed down in North America, but this credit can not be written on Reebok's head, but Adidas's rapid development in North America has, to some extent, suppressed its competitors.

Reebok said in 2017 that it would reduce 1500 jobs at the US headquarters to increase profitability and close half of the discount stores and stores in North America.

Earlier, Adidas group CEO Kasper Rothd (Kasper Rosted), in an interview with German magazine "Focus", said: "we have made a detailed plan for Reebok, giving the direction of development of the brand in the next four years.

They must regenerate profits and contribute to Adidas group. "

Reebok signed a ten year long contract with fitness company CrossFit in 2010.

To complete the task of Rostad's arrangement, O said that the biggest challenge is also the biggest opportunity in the US market: "our brand is a very important part of the American sports culture, and we need to re prove our position now."

Outside of North America, China has no accident to become Reebok's top priority overseas.

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In early July 2018, the first flagship store of Reebok Asia Pacific was officially opened in Huaihai Middle Road, Shanghai.

Reebok's current product line is divided into REEBOK FITNESS (Reebok Fitness Series) and REEBOK CLASSIC (Reebok Classic Series) two major branches, and its global strategy is consistent.

Prior to that, Cha Weiwen, vice president of Reebok Asia Pacific brand and general manager of Greater China, said that Reebok will focus on developing the Chinese market in 2018.

While launching more new products for the Chinese market, Reebok also plans to increase the number of Chinese stores to about 500.

"I want Reebok to become a beacon of healthy life. We are not only promoting sports for elite athletes by promoting sports," O said. "We want to express this concept through the brand: life is not a spectator sport, you have to attend."