I am your move

IIPM, GURGAON

Now the signs of this change are also visible in India. Apart from the chic Reebok Classic stores, the once sportswear major has tied a knot with designer Manish Arora (for the Reebok Fish Fry range) and another with Bollywood diva Bipasha Basu (as their brand ambassador). Interestingly, the duo have nothing to do with sports, except perhaps Bips starring role in Goal. Clearly, Reebok has its eyes set on India’s haute couture market. But isn’t Reebok trading the cook for the cookie? After all, the brand has gone to great pains to carefully cultivate its sporty image in India and that’s where the revenues have been pouring in from, at least until now! Subhinder Singh Prem, MD, Reebok India, does not agree. “We are trying to capture all segments of the apparel market, but we are not compromising with the brand image. Reebok Classic will even have denims designed by Dhoni and Yuvraj. All our cricketer brand ambassadors would be promoting all Reebok brands,” he says, citing the ads featuring Bipasha, which either show her in a sporty attire, or playing a sport (remember Bips in the boxing ring!). The company is taking pains to keep the sporty image alive by strengthening the brand association with cricket in India. In June this year, Reebok rolled out cricket stores, which display cricket paraphernalia used by cricketers in major cricket series. “To sustain market share as a sportswear brand in India you cannot ignore cricket and we wanted to do something that other players had not done ever,” explains Subhinder.

The strategy is to tap the new segments, without compromising on its inherent sporty image. Since the beginning of Reebok’s Indian odyssey, its brand association with cricket has helped Reebok steal the show from rival Nike (which connected with cricket only in 2006). Now Reebok is mulling a different penetration strategy by focusing on store expansion. Already in 225 cities with 751 stores (Nike has 500 and Puma 425 stores), Reebok wants to up the stakes further to 1,000 stores by the end of 2008. Is that Subhinder singing ‘catch me if you can?’

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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