Athletic gear marketer Reebok, now under the ownership of former rival Adidas, is hoping that a handful of National Football League stars will help revive its sluggish sales. The player roster
includes Peyton Manning (Indianapolis Colts); Vince Young (Tennessee Titans); Steve Smith (Carolina Panthers); Torry Halt (St. Louis Rams); DeAngelo Hall (Atlanta Falcons); and Roy Williams (Dallas
Cowboys). All six will appear in a major new branding campaign that Reebok is launching this fall. In the ads, each athlete wears performance apparel bearing either an "Rbk" vector or "N.F.L.
Equipment" logo, and describes the moment in his life when he realized he had a gift for the game. The campaign is Reebok's first major marketing push since the Adidas takeover, and is an extension of
the acclaimed "I Am What I Am" campaign from February 2005 that helped increase sales by 11 percent during that quarter. The 30-second spots feature comments by as many as three athletes. They were
directed by Errol Morris, a filmmaker who has worked for Adidas and Nike. He won an Oscar for "The Fog of War" in 2004.
advertisement
advertisement
Read the whole story at The New York Times »
