• by Nina Lentini , October 2, 2008

Leveraging the inherent desire of the average teenage boy to boast manfully, Reebok has come out with a shoe that can be written on, and is running a national marketing campaign using retail, print and digital advertising for its new ATR Talkin Krazy performance basketball footwear.

The digital campaign is highlighted on the new microsite, www.talkkrazy.com, where visitors can learn how the Canton, Mass.-based company is taking "talking trash" to a whole new level.

Retailing for $80 and available only at Champs Sports stores, the shoes feature a dry-erase upper that allows wearers to write messages "directly on the kicks," per the press release. "The Talkin Krazy is sold with a dry erase marker," it says, "so it can easily wipe clean to start again. The skills to back up the talk... sold separately."

John Lynch, VP of U.S. marketing for Reebok, tells Marketing Daily that the product name is intended to "play with words, have fun with English. You know how teenage boys are always smack talking one another--we took it from there." He says the campaign is currently Reebok's biggest for basketball. "It's a very important campaign for us."

In addition to the microsite, the shoe is featured on champssports.com and champssportslounge.com. There is a Facebook application as well, called Smack Talk Generator, and banner ads on Takkle.com, SLAMonline.com, and DIMEMag.com.

In print, ads will appear in NBA Hoop Magazine, SI Kids, Slam, Dime and Stack, and there are some related "talkin krazy" consumer contests/giveaways with SI Kids and Slam. In the Champs Sports stores, there is window signage and tables, wall graphics, three-tier tables plus a Talkin Krazy Champs in-store television loop through Dec. 1. Champs Sports is a part of Foot Locker, Inc., an athletic specialty retailer that operates approximately 3,700 stores in 21 countries in North America, Europe and Australia.