In these modern times most media owners acknowledge that their relationship with brands must integrate their services as a media owner and their role as an editor and opinion former.  Ambitious brands can create influential and cost effective coverage through smart investment of media monies and through identifying platforms and topics that meet the mutual needs of brands and publications.  To benefit from these opportunities brands need to have absolute clarity on what they desire, what collateral they have to offer and negotiate with and of course need the advantage of lead time to ensure that they can meet, negotiate and secure opportunities in good time for publication or broadcast dates.

REEBOK CROSSFIT FITNESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

A great example of this is the work I was involved in when Reebok collaborated with Eurosport around the ‘Reebok Crossfit Fitness Championships’ events that were hosted in Europe in 2012.  Our objective was to raise awareness of Reebok Crossfit but crucially, to also educate and inform about what makes Crossfit different and special to other forms of fitness. 

In Eurosport we found a broadcaster who not only desired a leadership position in emerging sports but who also acknowledged the additional need to bring more ‘sporting entertainment’ to their programming.  Several discussions later we secured a new program ‘The Box’ which would tell the story of Crossfit in Europe, meet typical Crossfitters, feature the athletes building up to the RCFFC competition events and ultimately broadcast the events themselves.  This was supported by a Yahoo/Eurosport web presence, digital advertising and social media. We negotiated a 2 x media value result from the same media investment we would have made anyway and in return received production investment from Eurosport.   Namecheck to Reebok Digital & Media Director Sascha Welters for his work on this project.

REEBOK

20TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE PUMP

Midway through the revival of Reebok Classics we were blessed with an opportunity to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of a seminal innovation within the sporting goods industry – the Reebok Pump. In 2009 we partnered with the 20 most iconic sneaker retailers globally and created an exclusive limited edition collection designed to re-establish pump at the pinnacle of cool.  Sneakerfreaker was not only a specialist magazine (created by Woody from Melbourne, Vic!) but also a creative platform willing to collaborate in communicating the history and heritage of the Pump on and offline. The editions were accompanied by limited edition posters, exclusive imagery and articles with Pump icons such as Dee Brown and Shaquille O’Neal.