Reebok Just Did It, Impossible is Nothing!

Brand : Reebok
Category : Best Media innovation - Cinema

The communication goal

Reebok in India has been perceived as a sports-wear
brand rather than a sports-lifestyle brand. Competing
brands in the business are leveraging the Sports and
Lifestyle platform. Adidas and Nike benefitted from their
associations with international sports personalities and
events. Adidas has Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra
Sehwag as their brand ambassadors. Nike has taken
apparel sponsorship to a different level by sponsoring the
entire Indian cricket team.

In such an environment of imagery and association, the key tasks for Reebok in India were to :

1. Reposition itself from a sports-wear brand to a sports & lifestyle brand

2. Identify a platform that enables synergy between sports, lifestyle and fashion

The Situation analysis

Youth in urban India is all about splurging and

extravagance in their lifestyle, possession of
accessories, shopping, traveling. They are very aligned
to international trends in fashion and lifestyle.

Diverse opinions and views are shaping their world.

However, even in their world of Facebook and MTV,
they look up to Indian cricketing idols for inspiration
and Bollywood star for style icons. The twin religions of
India Bollywood and Cricket have abiding appeals
among Indian youth .
The Media solution

Reebok tie up with the movie GOAL last year gave an impetus to the
brand image, we took the learning from the last movie tie-up and
went a step further.
This time we wanted to blend the twin religion in single platform
1.) Bollywood for a Lifestyle platform
2.) Cricket for a mass appeal

The concept of Advertisers Funded Movie was given a whole new meaning. VICTORY, a joint venture
of Reebok with Ajitpal production house. This was a seamless integration of the brand into the movie’s
storyline. The movie theme was cricket.

1st time ever in the history of Indian cinema 40 international cricket players were part of the movie

The perfect combination of the brand requirement and the movie storyline made this association
larger than life.

The scale of Execution

1.) Reebok is so crucial to the storyline of the movie that no movie promo could be created
without Reebok being part of these. Therefore, the brand got the additional benefit of the
20000 plus spots run by the producer.
2.) Presence of 40 international cricketers meant high PR coverage for the movie . The worth of the
PR is more than 20 million INR.
3.) There was a 360 degree media approach given to the media plan including TV, radio, cinema,
activation, internet and SMS activities.

How did the innovation deliver the goal & what makes it unique

1. The association helped advertisers realize the power of 70 mm

when used optimally. A partnership which goes beyond normal
association/ integration or the “blink and miss” case that typically
100-150 brands get into being every year when they get into the
space of movie tie-ups, Reebok broke the norm and went beyond
convention. The brand was made integral to the film and thus
had presence throughout the film strengthening brand
association with sports and celebrities.
2. Branded Entertainment content taking a centre
stage for building brands: It would be first ever
case where media initiative became the
communication strategy for the brand. The
innovation breaks the shackles of treating cinema
as just another media in a multi-media campaign
and opened a new window of brand building for
industry at large.

3. Opened a new revenue stream for the biggest film

industry in the world: Till now Indian Films
(Bollywood) was restricted to mere in-film placement
and marketing tie-ups, the concept of ‘Advertiser
backed films" will now gain momentum.

What Reebok couldn’t do in last 5-8 years even after

having the iconic cricketing stars, it managed to do it
in one stroke.
• Victory association helped Reebok to establish itself
as a sports and fashion-lifestyle brand in India amidst intense competition.
• Brand track conducted post the launch of this campaign, showed a huge improvement in
imagery.
Unaided awareness of Reebok has improved from mere 25% to 40% post campaign.

• Phenomenal success of Victory Movie association has made Branded Entertainment Content
integral to Reebok strategy for years to come.
 CASESTUDI
ES

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