What is the reason for the decline of Reebok?

Adidas is likely to no longer spend the 9th year of their acquisitions with Reebok (Reebok).

October 20, the Wall Street Journal said a consortium of investors from Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi had made a sharp bid for the Adidas group at $2.2 billion.

Adidas bought the second-largest sporting brand in the United States at 3.8 billion dollars in 2006 to further compete with Nike and expand its share and influence in the US market. The short-term effect is indeed very clear, after the completion of the acquisition, 2006 Adidas group revenue than 2005 rose by 52%.

According to Oren, the global sports shoe market has grown at around 5% to 9% a year since 2010, but the sharp pace of integration with Adidas has declined over the same period of time. This 20 years ago also hit sports brand, whether in the male sports shoes market, or female sports shoes market, market share is shrinking. Even if the recent one or two years of movement fashion craze, red New Balance, so that Adidas retro shoes Stan Smith Rejuvenation, also failed to let Reebok catch a ride.

Prior to the 2006 Adidas acquisition, Tri Yingshan, a partner at the sports marketing consulting company Orange Light, had worked with Reebok to publicize the project. In her impression, Reebok was more active and independent in marketing. But after being merged into Adidas, the various marketing activities obviously became less.

"Reebok and the main brand Adidas in the product line and positioning are very similar, lack of effective complementarity." And Reebok in the brand-building to give up the characteristics of the market consumers in the choice did not perceive sharp steps and Adidas obvious difference. Tri Yingshan the Journal of Curiosity.

Adidas itself already has a rich enough product line for all ages and wearing scenes-trendy clover, high-end avantgarde Y-3, Neo for young people, and not much room for Reebok.

This awkward position makes Reebok become blurred in front of the customer. In the strong sports project to establish the image is the sports brand commonly used marketing tactics, such as when mentions the football people will think of Adidas, basketball will think of Nike, Jog will think of New Balance, badminton will think of Yonex. But when you mention Reebok, it's hard to think about sports.

A sponsorship partnership with a club or athlete can help build an image, but in 2010 Reebok was not able to renew his contract after the expiration of the U.S. Football League (NFL) sponsorship contracts. The loss of this contract has a direct impact on overall revenue, and more importantly, it has lost a critical opportunity to get customers ' attention.

"A relatively top sports marketing resources, can affect the direction of the brand." In the sports industry star charm is particularly important, the most cattle athletes have a great influence on consumers. "Tri Yingshan said.

The global sports market is becoming increasingly competitive, and Adidas is likely to sell it in the face of a sharp recession. But for Reebok, leaving Adidas may not be a bad news. "The bright side of the deal is that both Adidas and Reebok can regain their position and be more focused," he said. Said Paul Swinand, an analyst at Chicago consulting firm Morningstar.