Source: REEBOK DROPS LIMITED EDITION CLUB C THROUGH FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND SKILL VIA AMAZON AND GOOGLE HOME
When Reebok ‘nails’ it, they do a great job. I’m in the process of writing about the “It’s A Woman’s World” campaign by the brand that targets women where they are and features impactful influencers as opposed to reps who simply feel inauthentic or out of place. As I wrote about the campaign, I was disrupted by this discovery of a drop in conjunction with voice assisted shopping.
Here is what’s happening,
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Start your journey by saying one of the below prompts:
- For Amazon say, “Alexa, open Reebok Sneaker Drop”
- For Google Home say, “Hey Google, open Reebok Sneaker Drop”
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Come back to the skill on 9/7 between 10 AM and 12 PM EST to enter by saying
- For Amazon say, “Hey Alexa, ask Reebok Sneaker Drop if I won”
- For Google Home say, “Hey Google, ask Reebok Sneaker Drop if I won”
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Officially enter into the drop by saying the passcode “Get my Club C’s”
According to Bryan Clark at TNW, “only 2 percent of people who own an Alexa-enabled device have used it for shopping, according to a new report by The Information.” When you ad to this that, “90 percent of those who have used it for shopping in the past used it only once.” While the novelty of running a campaign via Voice hints at where the market is heading eventually, right now Reebok suffers from two problems, lack of shelf space and an overcoming a market dominated by Nike, Puma and Vans.
Cardi B is hot right now. The Nails video has been viewed over 3 million times in the last month. It makes sense to create an activation around the video and Cardi, but to do so via Voice with Alexa and Google is a strategy that is more about the novelty than attempting to integrate more women into Reebok’s digital eco-system. Unless both Google and Alexa are sharing the information with Reebok, both companies gain access to users who are looking for a particular style. Those companies can utilize their own search strategies to target those buyers. This is not a smart decision or a long term play.
What would have been a better strategy?
Simple solution: tweeting that a poll was added to the Nails video on YouTube and an additional card added to the YouTube video leading to a hidden splash page for the Nails Club C.
Better solution: A quick buildout of a Reebok x Cardi App that allows for the users to do the same voice capture. This would have given the brand the ability to upsell via the app with “Nails” add ons. Reebok could also play around with the idea of launching a Cardi x Reebok nail pack. The opportunity for cross promotion within the Reebok digital system was given away to Alexa and Google. I do understand that an app buildout isn’t easy, but in this instance it allows for a longterm strategy integrating women into Reebok’s marketing channels as opposed to lending both search giants data on women who are engaging with this Skill. I do realize that women shop on Amazon more than men and this is playing to the idea of being where the customer is, but it seems to be a strategy that builds an outside platform more than it builds the direct to consumer components needed to make Reebok stronger.
