Dancing Shoes

Reebok International (Canton, Mass.) has announced plans to promote Rbk, its newest athletic-wear collection, in music stores around the country before the products are rolled out into the stores.

Protective cases located near the stores'top-selling music will house samples of the footwear. The company says its main focus is to utilize music stores as a major marketing platform to increase visibility and further connect the brand to the critical youth market.

“Being the first to know what's hot in athletic footwear is important to our core consumers,” says Micky Pant, Reebok's chief marketing officer. “We're taking our products to places they frequent the most, which includes music stores.”

Pant said the three-by-five-foot display cases tie in with the company's ongoing marketing campaign, “Sounds and Rhythm of Sport,” which fuses music, sports, entertainment and technology aimed at urban youth. “Our consumers spend a great deal of time in music stores, so it's the perfect place to showcase our products,” Pant says.

One of Reebok's major partners in the campaign is Wherehouse Entertainment (Torrance, Calif.), which purchased the 378-store Blockbuster Music chain from Viacom in 1998 and is now the operator of about 400 stores in 26 states under the Wherehouse, Wherehouse Entertainment and Wherehouse Music nameplates. Rbk displays are currently in place at all Wherehouse locations, plus hundreds of others. Products are displayed in an acrylic case, with a supplemental product card featuring the name of the shoe and its product features, as well the launch date and retail locations where it can be purchased. The cases are now displaying the I-3 Playoff Low and the Answer V DMX low, the newest entries from Reebok's lifetime endorsee, the Philadelphia 76ers'Allen Iverson.

“This initiative allows us to vertically integrate music and sports,” says Steve Stoute, partner, Arnell Group, who spearheaded the “Sounds and Rhythm of Sport” campaign. “Reebok is recreating the way to sell footwear. The idea behind this campaign of integrating music and sports will be appreciated by young consumers, because it connects with the things they feel passionately about.”