Since the mid eighties, companies have understood the importance of including marketing and communication in their strategies. Over the years and thanks to a globalization context, competition started to increase and firms had to justify their position on their respective markets. With the development of new technologies, firms had a lot of new opportunities available to them. It became easier to target consumers by seducing them in their daily life. Television, billboards, radio or newspapers were an amazing way to attract people and create new needs. Nowadays, customers have moved to other media thanks to the "virtual technologies" such as Internet, and their expectations have changed.
In order to identify their targets' new demand, firms have to adapt their strategy. On the highly competitive global sporting shoes/apparel market, the famous brand, Reebok, seems to have understood this problematic.
Founded by Joseph William Foster in 1890, Reebok was bought in 1958 by the American Paul Fireman. Since then, the brand has become a leading global designer, marketer and distributor of sports, fitness, and lifestyle products. In 2005, the Adidas group, and its main competitor Reebok, decided to merge in order to compete more efficiently with the leader, Nike.
[...] The brand image and recognition of Reebok was not enough good and the brand had to find a way to increase its visibility and readability among its target, the generation X. That is why Reebok decided to develop a viral marketing action. (What is it? The viral marketing is the virtual and modern equivalent of word of mouth advertizing. It is a “marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message, creating the potential for exponential growth in the exposure and influence” of the message Let's explain this action through the example of Reebok. [...]
[...] Moreover people will not choose to see the commercial or the advertising and even less speak about it. To conclude, it will be easier to target the generation X through viral marketing, as they spend their time on Internet. Terry Tate Commercials Did they increase Rebook recognition? Was the central message effective and memorable? Did it generate a sufficient level of positive attitudes toward the brand? The viral marketing action: - A 60 second spot during the Super Bowl - A special Web page from which visitors could download four minute videos The videos had been downloaded more than 20 million times and traffic increased seven-fold in the brand's on-line store. [...]
[...] By creating a viral marketing action, Reebok found the best way to persuade this generation, by producing videos that speak to them. Reebok's first goal was, of course, to capture their attention, and its second goal was to increase its brand recognition and market shares. The brand's videos were a huge success. Thanks to the Internet, people from all over the world could watch it thanks to the word of mouth phenomenon. The problem was that people enjoyed the videos because of their humor and their actuality, but they did not make the connection with Reebok. [...]
[...] Keeping in mind these reasons, we can say that the brand should have developed another campaign during the same period or just after, in order to keep its position in the customers mind. Since that time the brand has developed new very successful marketing actions such as street marketing, commercials with sport celebrities, events with famous singers, and so on. Reebok, will probably, develop its image inch by inch and be considered as an innovative and sports brand. References INTERNET http://www.reebok.com/FR/#, the official website gave me information about the brand, its products, its history, and its vision http://www.e-marketing.fr/xml/Archives/Marketing- Direct/123/27293/Reebok-com-comme-en-boutique-/ Comme en boutique - Emmanuelle Kalfon, Marketing Direct N°123 - 01/10/2008 http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2005/nf2005084_8340.htm “Reebok and Adidas: A Good august AUGUST David Kiley http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/Generation+X.html, Business definition for Generation X http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.htm, Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing”, by Dr. [...]
[...] Thus the viral marketing action may help by attracting many people, as well as allowing the brand to identify the behavior of the internet users when they are online. It helps find out how many times they watch the video, visit the website or the online store, or subscribe to the brand newsletter. In the case of Reebok, the brand made its website more dynamic and increased its data base. Therefore to increase its sales, the brand should have planned to extend its advertising campaign. [...]
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