Reebok appoints marketing chief

Reebok has promoted its consumer marketing manager Michael Price to marketing director, replacing former sales and marketing director David Neale, who quit last July (MW July 24, 2003).

Price has been overseeing Neale’s marketing responsibilities since he left the company, but he officially took over the role earlier this week. It is not known if Price plans to review Reebok’s UK advertising, currently with Lowe & Partners, but the brand has increasingly been using creative work developed by its US agency, Arnell Group in New York.

Reebok’s strategy is focused on three key product areas: performance sportswear, the Reebok Classics range and the street-inspired range Rbk.

The brand has focused marketing on its Rbk range over the past year and has signed up high-profile US rap stars, such as Jay-Z and 50 Cent, to create their own ranges under the brand name. In the UK it signed up all-girl R&B band Mis-Teeq to front its first major push for the Sounds and Rhythms campaign (MW September 25, 2003).

Reebok is the third-largest brand in the global sportswear market behind Nike and Adidas, reporting global sales of £1.8bn in 2002.