CHAPTER I

I.

INTRODUCTION

Reebok International Ltd. is a global athletic footwear and apparel company. Reebok
produces and distributes fitness and sports items including shoes, workout clothing and
accessories, and training equipment. Reebok is the official footwear and apparel sponsor for
UFC, CrossFit, Spartan Race, and Les Mills.
The company was founded in 1895 as J.W. Foster and Sons in Bolton, Lancashire, England.
It was later renamed Reebok and has been operating as a subsidiary of Adidas since 2005.
The global headquarters are located in Canton, Massachusetts, U.S. with regional offices in
Amsterdam (EMEA), Montreal (Canada), Hong Kong (Asia Pacific) and Mexico City
(Central and South America).

II.

SCOPE

The study covers the factors that the customers consider while purchasing sportswear like
price, brand, promotional offers, quality, the make of the product, colour, the customers
satisfaction level and the brand loyalty towards Reebok. For this purpose 30 consumers were
asked questions.

III.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To know the history of Reebok.

To analyse the marketing strategies used for promotion of the brand.
To draw conclusions based on the brand as a whole.

IV.

METHODOLOGY

Both Primary and Secondary Methods of data collection were used to obtain information for
the study.
The Primary Data was collected using a structured questionnaire distributed among 30
consumers.
The Secondary Data was collected from the Internet, Books, and Newspapers.

V.

LIMITATIONS

Every research has certain limitations. There were limitations in this Research study also.
They were:
Data was collected only from 30 consumers. Therefore, the results of study could not
show 100% accuracy.
The area of study is restricted to one City i.e. Hyderabad.
It was difficult to make an unbiased analysis, as the consumers filled the
Questionnaire in a careless manner.

CHAPTER II COMPANY PROFILE

VI.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sportswear brand Reebok India has appointed Mr. Sajid Shamim, Executive Director (Sales
and Marketing), Reebok India, as the Brand Director of Reebok at Adidas Group.
Adidas Group owns Reebok and Adidas globally.
He will be responsible for the marketing and business strategies of Reebok India. This
development has come in the wake of a joint operating model effective from May 2011 by
Adidas group in India.
Mr Sajid Shamim has been with the company for the past ten years.

VII.

COMPANY HISTORY

Early history
In 1890 in Holcombe Brook, a small village six miles north east of Bolton, Joseph William
Foster was producing and selling regular running shoes when he came up with the idea to
create a novelty spiked running shoe. After his ideas progressed, he joined with his sons and
founded a shoe company named J.W. Foster and Sons in 1895.[7]

The company began distributing shoes across the United Kingdom and were worn by British
athletes in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris.[8] In 1958, two of the founder's
grandsons, Joe and Jeff Foster, renamed the company "Reebok," having found the name in a
South African dictionary won in a running race by Joe Foster as a boy.[7] The name is the
Afrikaans for the grey rhebok, a type of African antelope.[9]

In 1979, at the Chicago International Sneaker Trade show an American businessman, Paul
Fireman, took notice of Reebok. Fireman was working for an outdoor sporting goods store
and negotiated a deal to license and distribute the Reebok brand in the United States. The

division was called Reebok USA Ltd.[10] Later that year, Fireman introduced three new
shoes to the market at $60. By 1981, Reebok reached more than $1.5 million in sales.[5]

1980s-1990s[edit]
In 1982, Reebok debuted the Reebok Freestyle aerobics shoe, the first athletic shoe designed
for women.[5][11] Fitness professional Gin Miller became the face of "Step Reebok," the
company's aerobics fitness campaign and program.[9] The following year, Reebok's sales
were $13 million.[12]

The company began expanding from tennis and aerobics shoes to running and basketball
throughout the mid to late 1980s, the largest segments of the athletic footwear industry at the
time.[13] In 1985, Reebok had its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange
under the ticker symbol RBK.[8][13]

In 1986, Reebok switched its logo from the Union Jack flag it had since its founding, to the
vector logo with an abstract Union Jack streak across a race track.[14] The switch signaled
the transition of the company into a performance brand as it began licensing deals with
professional athletes in the NBA and NFL.[15]

During the 1980s, Reebok began introducing sports clothing and accessories, along with a
new line of children's athletic shoes (called 'Weeboks')[16] at the end of 1980. By the end of
the year, Reebok's sales were about $1 billion.[6] One of the company's most signature
technologies,[17] the Reebok Pump, debuted in 1989[18][19] with more than 100
professional athletes wearing the footwear by 1992, including Shaquille O'Neal.[5][20]

Reebok named Carl Yankowski president and chief executive officer of the brand in 1998,
replacing former president Robert Meers.[21][22] Yankowski stepped down one year later to
accept an executive position at another company. Reebok chairman and CEO Paul Fireman
took over as president for the first time in 12 years.[22]

2000s-present
Reebok signed Venus Williams after winning singles titles at Wimbledon and the 2000
Summer Olympics.[23] In December 2000, Reebok signed a 10-year licensing agreement
with the NFL for the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell NFL licensed merchandise,
including uniforms and footwear, for all 32 teams.[24]

In 2001, Reebok became the exclusive apparel outfitter for the 29 teams in the NBA,[25] and
16 WNBA teams for ten years beginning in the 2004-2005 season.[26] The deal also added

the Reebok vector logo to the 2004 U.S. Olympic basketball team's uniforms.[27] Later in
2001, Jay Margolis was named as Reebok's president and COO.[28] After launching retail
flagship stores in China, Dhaka, London, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Tokyo,
Margolis resigned in October 2004. Fireman took over as president after signing a new longterm employment agreement with the Reebok board of directors.[29]

Reebok acquired official National Hockey League sponsor CCM in 2004. The company
began manufacturing ice hockey equipment under the CCM and Reebok brands. Reebok
phased out the CCM name on NHL authentic and replica jerseys, using the Reebok logo since
2005. CCM became Reebok-CCM Hockey in 2007. Reebok will be moving most of its
hockey equipment lines to CCM through 2015.[30]

Adidas acquisition
In August 2005, Adidas acquired Reebok as a subsidiary, uniting two of the largest sport
outfitting companies, but maintaining operations under their separate brand names.[31]
Adidas acquired all of the outstanding Reebok shares and completed the deal valued at $3.8
billion.[32] Following the acquisition, Adidas replaced Reebok as the official uniform and
apparel supplier for the NBA in 2006[14] with an 11-year deal that includes the WNBA and
replica jerseys and warm-up gear.[33]

Reebok named Paul Harrington president and CEO of the company in January 2006,
replacing Paul Fireman who was acting president since 2004. Harrington joined the company
in 1994 and was Reebok's senior vice president of global operations and chief supply chain
officer.[34]

Reebok Delta Logo

In 2010, Reebok announced its partnership CrossFit, a fitness company and competitive
fitness sport, including sponsoring the CrossFit Games, opening CrossFit studios, and
introducing a line of co-branded footwear and apparel for Fall 2011.[35] In 2011, Reebok
debuted the CrossFit delta symbol on the brand's fitness apparel line. In 2013, Reebok
announced another fitness partnership with Les Mills, a group fitness and team training
program in 80 countries in more than 15,000 studios. The agreement included Reebok
footwear and clothing integration into Les Mills' fitness programs and media marketing. By
July 2013, the red delta sign began showing up on all of Reebok's fitness collections. The
brand announced it was phasing out the vector logo and replacing it with the delta sign,
making it the company's second logo change in more than 120 years.[14] The delta symbol
represents the three pillars of positive self-change including mental, physical and social, as
Reebok increases its presence in the fitness industry with yoga, dance, aerobics and CrossFit.
[1

Extra Information
Offices[edit]
Reebok's parent company, Adidas, is headquartered in Germany, while the Reebok world
headquarters remains located in Canton, Massachusetts. The Reebok-CCM Hockey offices
are located in Quebec, Canada and Stockholm, Sweden. Reebok EMEA (Europe, Middle
East, Africa) has its regional office in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company has additional
regional offices located in Panama City (Reebok Latin America), Shanghai (Reebok Shanghai
International Commerce Centre), Singapore, Taikoo Shing, and Toronto.[36]

Products[edit]
Reebok designs, manufactures, distributes and sells sport and fitness apparel, footwear, and
accessories. The brand has also collaborated with other companies to produce fitness
equipment and workouts.

The company has released numerous notable styles of footwear including the 1982
introduction of the Reebok Freestyle that was manufactured and marketed for women.[37] In
1984, the shoe accounted for more than half of the Reebok sales.[38] Following the aerobics
trend from the 1980s to early 1990s, Reebok also released workout programs called Reebok
Step beginning in 1989.[39] The brand also introduced one of their most signature shoes, The
Reebok Pump. The footwear collection was released as a men's basketball shoe and the
world's first fully adjustable fit controlled with manual air allocation.[40]

The Reebok Ventilator, a line of lightweight athletic shoes with vented side panels, was first
introduced in 1990.[41] In 1996, Reebok signed a $50 million endorsement deal with Allen
Iverson when he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers.[42][43] Iverson collaborated with
Reebok during his contract to create the second-longest running basketball shoe line in
history, beginning with the Question shoe in '96 and ending with Answer XIII.[44]

In 2010, the brand released Reebok Zig, an athletic footwear technology and collection of
shoes include zigzag foam soles designed to push athletes forward.[45] The Reebok Nano
was released in 2011 and is the first official CrossFit shoe.[46] The company has also
partnered up with Les Mills and CrossFit to produce more fitness apparel, footwear, and
workouts.[9][47] Reebok released the Z-Series foam, a combination of dense midsole and
outsole so the foam is cushioned but not worn-down. The foam debuted on the ZQuick TR
with Reebok's new delta logo in 2014.[48]

Endorsements[edit]
Americas[edit]

From 2002 to 2012, the company held the exclusive rights to manufacture and market both
authentic and replica uniform jerseys, sideline clothing and caps, and onfield football
footwear (marketed as NFL Equipment) of the teams of the National Football League (NFL).
The company hired filmmaker Errol Morris to produce a series of 30-second commercials
that aired during the 2006 NFL season.[49]

In 2004, Reebok entered into a deal that allows them the rights to manufacture Canadian
Football League (CFL) onfield jerseys, sideline gear and footwear; this deal ended in 2015.
[50] Reebok signed a four-year deal to become the official shoe supplier to Major League
Baseball (MLB) during the same year.[51]

Reebok holds the rights to produce the on-ice "EDGE" Uniform System, performance
clothing and training footwear of the National Hockey League (NHL) in a 10-year agreement
from 2006 to 2016.[52]

Reebok was also the exclusive uniform provider for Brazilian clubs Cruzeiro, Internacional
and So Paulo FC.[53] In Mexico, Reebok was kit provider of Chivas de Guadalajara before
the team was taken over by parent company Adidas in 2011.[54]

On December 2, 2014, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced a six-year deal
with Reebok, which will begin in July 2015.[55]

Australia[edit]
In 2005, Reebok also signed an exclusive agreement to design and supply all eight team
home and away strips for the new Australian A-League competition. Although not an
expensive deal, this partnership paid dividends for Reebok, due to the growing popularity of
football and the league in the area. An estimated 125,000 A-League jerseys were sold in
Australia, a record for a single league's sales in a year for a sports manufacturer.[56] Reebok's
agreement ended at the finish of the 201011 season.

Europe[edit]
The company maintained its relationship with its origins in the UK through a long-term
sponsorship deal with Bolton Wanderers, a Championship football club, however, in 2009,
Bolton changed their sponsorship to 188bet. When the team moved to a brand new ground in
the late-1990s, their new home was named the Reebok Stadium.[57] Several other English
clubs had Reebok sponsorship deals up until the purchase by Adidas, but most have since
switched to either the parent brand (which has a long history in football) or another company
altogether. In April 2014, Bolton Wanderers officially announced the Reebok Stadium would
be officially rebranded in a new sponsorship deal with sportswear manufacturer Macron, who

will manufacture the club's kits and sponsor the stadium under the name Macron Stadium in a
four-year deal announced by the club's chairman, Phil Gartside.[58] In Germany, Reebok
sponsored football club 1. FC Kln.[59]

In rugby union, Reebok sponsored the Wales national team until late 2008, who won the
Grand Slam in the Six Nations Championship in that year, and the Tasman Makos in New
Zealand's domestic competition, the Air New Zealand Cup.[60]

In 2006, FC Barcelona and France national team striker Thierry Henry (then playing for
Arsenal) signed a deal to join the "I Am What I Am" campaign on August 1, 2006. Ryan
Giggs has also done "I Am What I Am" commercials.[61] Andriy Shevchenko started his
endorsement deal with the company in 2006.[62][63]

India[edit]
Reebok sponsored kits for a top seeded Indian Football club, East Bengal F.C., in the year
2003. Later it sponsored kits for Indian Premier League teams, such as the Royal Challengers
Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings in the first
edition of the league held in 2008. However, for the second edition held in 2009, the
sponsorships included Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super
Kings, Kings XI Punjab kits.[64][65]

In May 2012, Reebok India filed a criminal complaint against former top employees,
Subhinder Singh Prem and Vishnu Bhagat, accusing them of a financial fraud of up to
US$233 million.[66] On the charge of alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA)
violations, Reebok India was booked and may face penal action.[67] Twelve further arrests of
employees and associates were made during the same period. As of July 2013, Prem and
Bhagat were granted bail by the high court but remained imprisoned following their
detainment in September 2012.[68]

One of Reebok's most prominent athletes, Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was
named by Forbes as the world's thirty first highest-paid sportsperson in June 2012. At the
time of the article, Dhoni endorsed more than 20 other brands in deals that were cumulatively
valued at US$23 million.[69]

Non-sport related endorsements[edit]

Rapper Jay-Z became the first non-athlete to get a signature shoe from Reebok. The "S.
Carter Collection by Rbk" was launched on November 21, 2003, and the S. Carter sneaker
became the fastest-selling shoe in the company's history.[70] Later, Reebok made a deal with
rapper 50 Cent to release a line of G-Unit sneakers, and artists such as Nelly and Miri Ben-

Ari have become spokespersons for the company.[71][72] Reebok also signed Scarlett
Johansson and introduced her own line of clothing and footwear called Scarlett Hearts, part
of the Rbk Lifestyle Collection. Reebok also produce shoes for Emporio Armani under the
label EA7. These shoes are marketed to the high-end fashion market.

Other Reebok brand ambassadors include Rick Ross, Nicole Scherzinger, Swizz Beatz, Toni
Nkhahle, Chad Johnson, Amir Khan, Erin Andrews, Alex Ovechkin, Toya Delazy and many
more.

REEBOK GUIDING PRINICPLES:-

Performance calls for focus and dedication. This is why we have set ourselves Guiding
Principles to make sure we stay on the right track. They remind us of what is important.

We are committed to continuously strengthening our brands and products to improve our
competitive position.

We are consumer-focused and therefore we continuously improve the quality, look, feel and
image of our products and our organisational structures to match and exceed consumer
expectations and to provide them with the highest value.

We are innovation and design leaders who seek to help athletes of all skill levels achieve peak
performance with every product we bring to market.

We are dedicated to consistently delivering outstanding financial results.

We are a global organisation that is socially and environmentally responsible, that embraces
creativity and diversity and is financially rewarding for our employees and shareholders.

MARKETING STRATEGY OF REEBOK

Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear giant Adidas, is a
producer of athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans
spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle. In 1890 in Holcombe Brook, a small
village 6 miles from the town Bolton, England, Joseph William Foster was making a living
producing regular running shoes when he came up with the idea to create a novelty spiked
running shoe. After his ideas progressed he joined with his sons, and founded a shoe
company named J.W. Foster and Sons in 1895.
In 1960, two of the founder's grandsons Joe and Jeff Foster renamed the company Reebok in
England, having found the name in a dictionary won in a race by Joe Foster as a boy; the
dictionary was South African edition hence the spelling. The company lived up to the J.W.
Foster legacy, manufacturing first-class footwear for customers throughout the UK. In 1979,
Paul Fireman, a US sporting goods distributor, saw a pair of Reeboks at an international trade
show and negotiated to sell them in North America
1. Adapting to Latent Consumer Preferences
2. Applying Marketing Creativity
3. Creation of Marketing Opportunities

The purpose of this research is to perform a marketing analysis on Reebok International. The
company is an American-based firm, that sources products in South Korea, and markets
products both in the United States and internationally. In 1979, BC Recreational acquired the
North American license to sell a running shoe produced by Reebok, Ltd., a small British firm
The shoe did not sell well in the United States, and, in 1982, the company developed its own
shoe, and marketed it under the name Reebok (by this time, BC Recreational had ceased to
exist, and the surviving company was Reebok International, Ltd.). In 1985, Reebok
International bought the original British firm
This strategy was given huge boosts by Cybill Shepherd's wearing of Reeboks to the Emmy
Award Ceremony, and by Mick Jagger's wearing Reeboks in a rock video. The company also
displayed marketing creativity in 1986, when one order received from a Korean source
arrived with shoes made of wrinkled leather. In 1986, wrinkled leather became the fashion
look in athletic/casual shoes .

MARKETING MIX STRATEGY

A company's marketing mix is the combination of factors employed with respect to the Four
Ps of marketing - product, price, place, and promotion. Reebok's application of the Four Ps is
considered separately for each factor. Product Strategies Consumers typically recognize five
distinctive product characteristics - quality level, features, styling, brand name, and
packaging. Depending upon the type of product involved - physical, service, and so forth, not
all of these characteristics will be applicable in each instance. While Reebok has made a point
of designing shoes of high quality, the company has relied on style more heavily than other
product characteristics .

In 2009, the Reebok brand has continued to execute its strategy, positioning itself as a
premium sports and lifestyle brand focused on fitness and training. Based on its roots and
heritage in fitness/training, consumer insights and positioning within the adidas Group,
Reebok developed a clear roadmap for its key businesses going forward: Own Womens
Fitness, Challenge in Mens Training/Sport and Revive Classics. Central to Reeboks brand
heritage is the courage to challenge convention. Unlike many other brands, Reebok is
committed to make fitness fun again challenging men and women to fulfil their potential in
sport and in life by providing them with the opportunity, the products and the inspiration to
have fun staying in shape.

CHAPTER III REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Article 1
Kendrick Lamar releases Reebok shoe; 'Red' and 'Blue' on heels
by Angus Walker Jul 9, 2015 17:51 PM EDT

The rapper returns to the brand, this time with another shoe.

Lamars original version of the sneaker dropped in July 15. Kendrick Lamar used To Pimp a
Butterfly as a vessel to return to his hometown of Compton to fight gang violence rather than
escape it. His latest collaboration with Reebok seeks to promote that end, as the "King
Kunta" rapper has previewed a shoe that caters to both bloods and crips.

Each pair of Lamar's re-mixed Reebok Ventilators contains one "BLUE" shoe and one
"RED." The two colors, one written on the left and one on the right, represent the bloods
(red) and the crips (blue), two major gangs in Compton and across the country.

The word "NEUTRAL" is shown on the tongues of both right and left, thus uniting the two
warring gangs. According to Complex Sneakers, Kendrick's new Reeboks are set to hit the
U.S. on July 18 and will cost approximately $140.

ARTICLE 2
Packer Shoes Tackles Winter For Its Latest Reebok "Four Seasons" Release

Many parts of the country are feeling the full grip of winter and for its latest collaboration,
Packer Shoes drops a Reebok Furylite ready to handle the bitter cold.

This "Winter" release is the third offering from Packer Shoes ongoing "Four Seasons"
collection with Reebok and follows the "Summer" Ventilator and "Autumn" LX8500. The
shoe features a frigid colorway of blue and grey and utilizes a mixed material upper
comprised of suede, rubberized synthetic, and ballistic mesh. Additionally, Packer designed
the shoe with a Thinsulate lining to give fans both a comfortable and appropriate sneaker
option for those wintry days and nights.

The shoe is slated to release on Friday, February 5 with complete details set to be announced
next week.

ARTICLE 3
Four months after acquisition, Rockport moving HQ to Newton
Footwear maker The Rockport Group is moving its headquarters to a 70,000-square-foot
office in Newton by next fall.
The company will move from its existing office at 100 Royall St. in Canton, an office located
on the U.S. headquarters for Reebok International Ltd. at 1895 JW Foster Blvd., and employ
200 people in Newton.
Reebok is owned by Adidas Group. Adidas had also owned Rockport until this August when
a partnership of New Balance Holding Inc., the investment arm of the Brighton-based athletic
footwear manufacturer, and Boston-based Berkshire Partners LLC acquired the Rockport
brand for a reported $280 million.
Rockport Group CEO Bob Infantino told the BBJ at the time of the sale that the company
was looking to move from the Reebok campus into the western suburbs.
Rockport Group has clearing store listings in 28 states and factory outlet stores in 15 states.
In Massachusetts, the company has a location at the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets in
Wrentham and clearance stores in Lee, Marlborough and West Yarmouth. The groups wellknown brands include Rockport, Cobb Hill, Aravon and Dunham.
The company originally started in Massachusetts as The Rockport Co. in 1971 with a line of
casual and dress leather shoes. It was acquired by Adidas Group in 2006 and then sold to
New Balance Holding and Berkshire Partners LLC this summer. As part of that August
acquisition, Rockport combined with Drydock Footwear Inc. to form The Rockport Group.

Link to adidas gaining momentum in north America.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/threads_and_laces/2015/11/adidas-gainsmomentum-in-north-america.html

ARTICLE 4

Reebok lands martial arts brand

Nov 26, 2014, 8:23am PST
Reebok International has announced the acquisition of a U.K.-based boxing and martial arts
brand.
Reebok purchased Luta Sportswear and a group called Fight for Peace, a nonprofit that
combines boxing and martial arts tenets with education and personal development programs.
Terms of the Reebok/Luta deal weren't disclosed.

Terms of the agreement weren't released. Reebok is owned by Adidas, which recently
received a bid for the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"Both organizations share a strong belief in the power of fitness and training and the impact it
can have on young peoples' lives," said Luta's Luke Downdey in a release.
-PORTLAND BUSINESS JOURNAL