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A great brand doesn't have to be a big brand in terms of size. But it has to be a big brand when it comes to sparking people's imaginations. For example, Nike, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Apple, and Beetle are great brands.

Unfortunately, Reebok, once a big brand of the 1970s and 1980s, is about to become an orphan. Adidas, the second largest sporting goods manufacturer in the world, bought Reebok in 2005. Today Adidas wants to sell Reebok. Adidas has never been able to replicate Reebok's extraordinary, oversized success. One look at Reebok's history shows how the brand got lost. Big brands and iconic brands can last forever. But only with proper management.

Reebok's origins

Reebok was the beginning of the fitness scene, especially for women. Think of Jane Fonda aerobics videos. Think of John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis in Perfect, the 1985 film based on an article in Rolling Stone magazine about health clubs and singles. Reebok has one of those incredible stories. Their origins are fascinating.

In an English workshop, a fourteen-year-old named Joseph William Foster designed some of the earliest spiked running shoes. In 1900 he founded his company and soon added his sons. The J.W. Foster and Sons became famous throughout the British Empire for innovative athletic footwear. Olympic runner Harold Abrahams wore a pair of Foster's "running pumps" at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. In the movie "Chariots of Fire" Mr. Abraham was remembered.

J. W. Foster's two grandchildren, Joe and Jeff Foster, started a new company called Reebok in 1958. Reebok shoes were popular internationally. But it wasn't until 1979 that Reebok entered America's consciousness.

At a trade fair in Chicago, a young man named Paul Fireman saw Reeboks. Mr. Fireman worked in his family's outdoor and fishing tackle business in Boston, MA. Looking for something else, Mr. Fireman asked one of Foster's grandchildren about the right to license and sell Reeboks in the United States. In two years, 1981, Reebok had sales of $ 1.5 million.

Reebok's advantage

Mr. Fireman saw the explosion of health clubs and aerobics classes. Most of the gyms focused on men and bodybuilding. Health clubs and aerobics had large female participants. Reebok gave women the Reebok Freestyle Aerobic Shoe in 1982. The Reebok Freestyle was the first sports shoe for women.

If you lived in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, it seemed like every woman's foot wore a Reebok freestyle shoe. It was like you didn't mean aerobics if you weren't wearing the Reebok Freestyle. This particular, very attractive sports shoe caught the imagination of women. It was a physical entry into the world of fitness before fitness became fitness as we know fitness today. Reebok owned aerobics. It was the brand that was a perfect fit for that combination of time, values, excitement and personal health focus. Reebok Freestyle was part of women's liberating acceptance of non-professional physical fitness. The Reebok Freestyle was so successful that Reebok had sales of $ 13 million in 1983.

Reebok's success resulted in Mr Fireman buying the UK-based parent company in 1984. The Reebok brand went public in 1985. In the 1980s, Reebok's sales of new shoe products, shoe innovations, clothing and accessories rose to $ 1 billion. Reebok signed sponsorship deals and endorsements from sports stars. Reebok was one of the most closely connected sports brands alongside Nike. The brand was soon part of the Adidas family.

Reebok's decline

For whatever reasons, and there are several examples that might be pointed out, Adidas was unable to sustain the energy. Adidas replaced Paul Fireman. Adidas has pushed Reebok into a variety of partnerships. These watered down the image of Reebok. The logo has been changed a few times, each time for a new reason. What Reebok stood for was lost.

There were all kinds of turnaround plans and reorganizations. There were write-offs and strategic plans. Adidas had hoped Reebok would be a linchpin for competing with Nike. The bottom line was that cost reductions resulted in profits. But, as one analyst told the Wall Street Journal, "Returning profits was a good move, but increasing ROI is another thing."

Coronavirus has closed the door on many big brands. Neiman Marcus, J.C. Penney, Nordstrom are just a few of them. All of these had problems before coronavirus. It's the same with Reebok. There is no reason for big brands to disappear except for brand mismanagement. In Reebok's case, they've lost the brand's core promise. Reebok lost its core identity.

Some marketers talk about a brand life cycle. They say brands go through multiple stages from birth, to growth, to plateau, to sink to death. This is wrong. Brands don't have to follow a natural lifecycle. Brands can and live forever. Brands don't have to die. Factories can shut down and rust. Technology is getting out of date. Brands can live forever if properly managed.

The Reebok brand is not dead. It can be revived. Let's hope everyone who buys Reebok is focused on articulating the Reebok core promise in a relevant, differentiated and trustworthy way. Let's hope that the new owner will focus on consistently fulfilling this promise to every customer anytime, anywhere.

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