Dans Angels

Reebok Case
10/15/14

Redefine Yourself; And Well Support You The Whole Way

Recommended Decision
We, at Reebok, have decided to create a line of sneakers for the elderly population
of 65 years and older. The new line of sneakers will be titled ReDefined. In the future,
we plan to expand our collection of sneakers within the line for other needs of the aging
population. We plan to sponsor American Association of Retired Persons as one of our
initial moves into the market. Establishing a relationship with an organization like AARP
will be very beneficial to us and with getting our target markets attention and adding
incentives for the consumers.
While marketing this new sneaker mainly through commercials and the use of
social media, we will be using athletes such as Diana Nyad (Swimmer), Gladys Burrill
(Runner), Arnold Palmer (Golf), Terry Bradshaw (Football), and Catherine Switzer
(Runner) to boost the cool factor of our product. We want elderly consumers to feel
that they can look good, feel cool and be comfortable all at the same time. It is proven
that athletic shoes aid in issues with elderly such as falling and we think that this is just
the beginning to the reasoning behind why our shoes will be number one (U.S. National
Library of Medicine, 2004). With this new shoe, we feel that we can gain customer

allegiance due to the fact that we will be the first company in our competitive market to
expand into this type of shoe for this specific group.

Decision Criteria/Proof of Recommendation

We are currently positioned in a cross-fit niche within the athletic shoe market.
We have basically monopolized that market and feel that we are so established in the
cross-fit culture so much, that there is no need to further market our sneaker within it.
This new demographic is under-marketed and can be a very lucrative opportunity
for our company. We also would have minimal competition within the market with very
few established sneaker brands marketing towards this demographic. In addition, it gives
us a new unique opportunity that is away from competition of rival companies like Nike
Inc.
When it comes to shoes and sneakers, unless you are under the age of 65, there
are not many options to pick from. There seems to be an assumption that older people
only want to buy them if they are big, clunky, and solid white. There seems to be a
misconception that the elderly do not want to stay with the times and be cool. With our
new line, "Redefined", we are looking to give the elderly a superior sneaker in protection,
style and comfort. We will deliver a more appealing product than the competition and be
one of the firsts to target this demographic.
There will be four different types of shoes in the "ReDefined" line; ReLive,
ReLax, ReLays, and ReMember. All of the featured shoes will have a set of lock laces.
This will make the sneakers easy to put on and also give the person wearing them the
support and stability they need no matter what they are doing. ReLive will be the main
sneaker and first of our line. It will be advertised mainly via television commercials and

some social media to get the consumers to get out of the house and be active. This
sneaker will give the consumer the support and comfort necessary for them to be to be
active for extended periods of time whether it is light exercise or even just daily routines
or activities. This sneaker will be targeted more towards the younger half of the target
group as well as the more active members within with this age group of 65 and older.
ReLax will be the shoe that older people wear if they are experiencing swelling or
orthopedic instability. This shoe will again have the lock laces and will have a special
sole inside of the shoe that will be therapeutic for the consumer's foot while still
providing comfort. Many older people are unable to walk around as much because of
joint problems, arthritis, and different diseases they inquire with old age. This specific
shoe will be available in wider styles so that it can fit any size of a foot.
ReLays will be a shoe that will be specifically used to swim or when in beach or
water environments. Older people generally have memberships at local YMCAs or
fitness clubs similar to them. Swimming is a popular sport among that generation because
it is therapeutic and easy on the joints (Reuters, 2013). Classes in water aerobics or other
aquatics are common programs at these clubs. They very rarely will walk around the pool
and locker room without shoes on for safety and hygiene reasons. With these shoes, they
do not have to worry about being barefoot or slipping. They will still have that level of
comfort and protection but they will get to experience it while swimming.
ReMember will be a specialty shoe made just for war veterans. It will have a
saying on the sneaker "Proud to have served my country." 10% of the proceeds made
from the purchases of the ReMember shoes will go to the Wounded Warrior Foundation.

Our main sneaker is going to be ReLive. The other three sneakers will follow
once this line takes off and is hopefully successful. With the Baby Boomer population
being one of the biggest in the U.S., it just makes sense to target and give them as well as
some of their parents the opportunity to have a sneaker that has everything they want
from a trusted and globally known company such as Reebok. In fact, this generation is
graduating about 8,000 Americans turning 65 each day (Boyle, 2013). The truth is,
generations are living longer and working into later decades of their lives. They need
something to protect them from injury at a later age and this is the shoe that will bring all
their footwear needs to life.
We feel that marketing through the major broadcasting networks would be the
most effective because these are the channels that most people watch. Baby boomers
watch on average 174 hours of television a month. That is 63% more than the millennials
generation (18-34 years old) (Boyle, 2013). Also, teaming up with AARP will help us
immensely. AARP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing quality of life as
Americans age. They provide benefits, products, and services to their members. Teaming
up with AARP will add to our credibility in our product and what we are trying to
accomplish. It will help demonstrate that our purpose is to care for these elderly and give
them the best opportunity to live a mobile and active lifestyle. Also our AARP member
discount for shoes should be very appealing to the consumer.

Critique of Options
We feel as if creating a typical running shoe would not benefit Reebok at this
stage in the game. Not only has this idea been controlled and saturated by Nike, but also

companies such New Balance have significant advantages over us, leaving steep
competition. Creating such an intricate line for the elderly has never been done before.
With such a large and untapped market we feel as if this is a great opportunity for
Reebok. We look at this as an opportunity to have control over a completely new
demographic, putting us one step above the rest.
Furthermore, we feel as if creating a sport specific shoe limits our market size.
Creating a shoe specific for basketball, skiing, or bowling for example, will not only
change the size of our demographic, but also we feel as if competition is already steep in
shoes that have been done before. Unfortunately we at Reebok do not have the exposure,
popularity or resources at this time to compete. With the ReDefine Line we have the
ability to target the entire 65 plus market. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are
approximately 45 million individuals over the age of 65 in the country, making our
market size huge. With these individuals have such a large portion of disposable income;
it is no question that this is the way to go for Reebok.

Major Disadvantages
One major disadvantage that creating this new line presents is that the cool factor is
not an automatic guarantee. We as a marketing team will have go the extra mile and
creatively utilize outlets to show individuals that this is the new cool thing for this huge
demographic. Gone are the days of Velcro and unappealing sneakers. We will sustain the
amount of comfort that the elderly enjoy, but take this a step further with our new
ReDefine line. Appealing to specific market segmentations will create brand loyalty
when this new demographic sees what Reebok is all about.

A second possible disadvantage of creating this new line is the difficulty that will be
entailed when attempting to market towards these people because they are not as
technologically savvy. Simply using social media will not necessarily suffice in this
situation, as many senior citizens do not use social media. Another downside is that the
low cost of marketing through social media will likely not have a large affect. Rebook
will have to use significant funds to create commercials. However, we at Reebok feel that
using these commercials will pay off in the long run. Using individuals such as Diana
Nyad, Gladys Burrill, Katherine Switzer, Terry Bradshaw, and Arnold Palmer will
generate major brand awareness and attention, which will make the costs worth it.
Lastly, it is no secret that some of the elderly are what we may call frugal.
Some may worry that these new consumers will not want to spend the money on these
new sneakers and will not be content. However, we feel this is a common misconception
about the elderly and they are willing to spend money for the right product. With our
intricate marketing campaign we will help make these individuals excited to purchase the
ReDefine line and be cool again. Whether it is with our ReLive support or ReLays water
shoe, we want people to know they are the coolest in the room and bettering themselves
by staying active and getting involved.

Action Plan
In the new development of our ReDefined shoe line; we have decided to take four
major steps:
1. Become a new AARP official sponsor
2. Advertise new ReLive sneaker from ReDefined line via television commercials
3. Other marketing efforts focused in social media aimed at baby boomers and
younger family members

4. After first year, introduce more lines to the collection

Timeline:
We will next team up and become a sponsor of AARP. We will get advertising
and recognition on their home website as well as use their logo on our website and
commercials. By teaming up with AARP we will gain access to a wide-spectrum of
senior citizens and elderly all around the U.S. By seeing our brand associated with this
organization, we will gain credibility within their social community and in return boost
popularity of our shoe line among the consumers. Moreover, it will allow for more
exposure via coupons and offers that these senior citizen members can receive on their
website. We will allow for a 10% discount on all of our ReDefined products with proof
of membership.
Next we will introduce our new shoe to our market via television programs such
as ABC, NBC, FOX, and Golf Channel, AMC, Womens Entertainment, Food Network,
and Game Show Network. These are the premier television programs and the ones that
our target audience will be mainly watching. We will use elderly athletes who have made
milestone accomplishments or just well known athletes from the older generations. This
list includes Diana Nyad, Gladys Burrill, Kathrine Switzer, Terry Bradshaw, and Arnold
Palmer. We chose each of these athletes for a specific marketing purpose. We chose
Diana Nyad and Gladys Burrill specifically because they are athletes that made their
accomplishments in old age. They are inspiration athletes that do not let a factor such as
age stop them from pursuing their athletic goals. We chose the former athletes Katherine
Switzer, Terry Bradshaw, and Arnold Palmer because they all were prominent in their
sport during the older decades and are still well known among the target consumer today.

All together, these athletes make up a lot of different age groups within the target market.
We feel that using a group instead of one of these figures to market these shoes, we can
appeal to more of the market.
As a secondary marketing approach, we will start a campaign on Facebook. Our
target audience on social media would be mainly the baby boomers (50-69 years old) as
well as sons, daughters and grandkids of our target market. We feel there is not enough of
our target market on social media to really be effective with direct marketing to them.
Instead, by reaching their loved ones we can find alternative ways to market to our
market more indirectly but still effective. There are about 53% of baby boomers on
Facebook controlling about 70% of our nations disposable income. As they get older the
will need or want our products functionality and appeal. In the meantime, if they do not
feel they need the protection or comfort these sneakers offer, they can always get it for
their parents who may be still living in their 80s or 90s considering the average lifespan
now is up to there (Boyle, 2013).
We know that with fast changing trends, a lot of people in the oldest generations
are still not necessarily up-to-date with the times and using this technology, we can have
a secondary more personal way of getting the information to the true consumer.
After our first year of introduction, we will expand our line to other shoes within
our line. Aside from the ReLive sneaker, we will have ReLax, ReLay, and ReMember
sneakers as a part of our Redefined collection. The ReLax sneaker will be aimed toward
people with circulation and foot problems such as Rheumatoid arthritis. This shoe is
meant to still have the same support as the ReLive, but with added comfort and
breathability. This is meant for people who are off their feet and not necessarily walking

all day long. For our ReMember sneaker, this will be released on the Veterans Day the
following year of our initial public release. This shoe will have red, white and blue
coloring as well as Proud to serve my country engraved in the side. We also will have a
special promotion where every ReMember sneaker we sell, we will donate 10% to the
Wounded Warrior Foundation. We feel that this will motivate veterans and widows to
purchase this sneaker and at the same time feel like they are giving back to a good cause
that they can relate to. Last, we have our ReLay sneaker.

Major Risks and Responses

Reebok believes that this is a line that will expand quickly. Although we are
confident in our product, there are always risks involved with any new venture. We feel
that we may experience an issue in marketing, misuse, and brand loyalty. Marketing
issues may happen if we have problems reaching the demographic. The older generation
is harder to reach with current technology. They use traditional forms of media. While
this is not a bad thing, we will not necessarily be able to truly reach everyone such as
their kin through traditional media versus new media. Another issue with marketing
could be that our prospective spokespeople for commercials do not want to endorse our
products for various reasons such as making them feel older, although that is not what we
are trying to implement. Misuse of the laces, while a small issue, could be a potential
risk. Many elderly people will not use something if they do not know how. Lastly, brand
loyalty is a factor. With years of experiencing different brands, many older consumers
may have prior brand loyalty to other companies. With this being the first time that
Reebok is hitting this market, we will need to truly step up marketing and incentives to

try, buy, and love our sneakers. We also think that the elderly are not as brand loyal as we
think and if we can introduce an appealing enough product, we can become a staple in
footwear for the elderly.

Appendix

A)

Sources
"How to Join AARP." AARP -. AARP, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
Matthew Boyle. (17 September 2013). Aging boomers befuddle marketers aching for the
$15 trillion prize. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-17/agingboomers-befuddle-marketers-eying-15-trillion-prize.html
Reuters. (13 May 2013). New fitness centers cater to aging baby boomers, senior citizens.
Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/fitness-centers-cater-babyboomers-article-1.1342761
State & county quickfacts, (2013). United states census bureau. Retrieved from
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

U.S. Census Bureau. (May 1995). Sixty-five plus in the United States.
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2004). Footwear style and risk of falls in older
adults. Retrieved from Pubmed.gov