Adidas said Wednesday it will buy shoemaker Reebok for $3.8 billion, giving the company about 20 percent of the U.S. market and the potential to better challenge leader Nike Inc. on its home turf.
Source: Sportswear maker Adidas to buy Reebok
When adidas finalized the acquisition of Reebok in 2006 for around 4 Billion dollars, the goal was to disrupt the growth and speed of Nike. That hasn’t happened. Nike is rolling like Sisyphus’ rock downhill and both adidas and Reebok are moving like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill. In Q2 of 2018 “Revenues at the Reebok brand decreased 3% as growth in Classics was more than offset by declines in the training and running categories.” In 2018 Reebok named former Nike man Kelly Hibler to the run Classics where the brand has been performing well due to the interest in retro product. The guy was with Nike for 28 years. For the life of me I can’t understand why companies continuously recycle the same people in hope that they can become Nike.
A company has to build a legacy of storytelling to become Nike, not hire Nike to become Nike.
I’m keeping this simple: adidas had to issue an accounting restatement in regard to Reebok. The company hadn’t seen solid performance from 2006 to 2016. The recent retro trend is still hot, but Reebok should have seen incredible growth as the brand had a stronger catalog than both Fila and Champion in the 80s and 90s, but those brands exploded in the last year while Reebok had to struggle to lift their fitness and training divisions.
It would seem that Reebok shouldn’t even invest very heavily into fitness, but I don’t agree. Reebok has yet to leverage its rich history in sport and this lack of connection to the past, combined with a mix of poor product and in my opinion a lack of interest in the brand by adidas is hindering the movement of Reebok.
In 2016 I wrote this post:
Why ‘Adidas CEO to reshape Reebok’, is the same as Under Armour without the Drama
In this post I explained why adidas wasn’t as hot as everyone thought. Throughout 2018 this became clear to everyone else. It actually started in late 2017. The entire time adidas saw their rise and now their decline, Reebok has been treated as an afterthought. I think that the right team and the right vision could jumpstart Reebok and that should begin with athletes making an offer to purchase the brand. adidas needs to recenter and focus. Reebok needs to begin a year long celebration of its history, but that will never happen as long as adidas owns the brand and that’s a shame.
While I get that Jay Versace, Victoria Beckham and Cardi B have considerable followers and that influencers reach the intended audience, when I walk in a store I can’t find Reebok. When I watch sports I can’t find Reebok. When I watch music videos I don’t see Reebok. When I browse YouTube I don’t see Reebok.
I think it’s time for an athlete centered Reebok to return to the table and the ownership of the company should reflect that.
Reebok’s History Delivers the Blueprint for the Future | Marketing
