Reebok goes Hollywood to refashion its marketing

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Reebok's new strategy: To be seen is to sell.

And what better place to be seen than on North Robertson Boulevard, the Rodeo Drive of the younger, hipper set.

''It's very LA," said Denise Kaigler, the Reebok International Ltd. senior vice president spearheading the Canton company's Hollywood marketing initiative.

The sneaker maker is opening a new Rbk store complete with a VIP room stocked with champagnes Cristal and Dom Perignon, and Red Bull Energy Drink. On the store's second floor, showrooms with drop-down movie screens double as space for private parties.

Fit for a celebrity, the store is the crowning jewel in Reebok's uniquely Hollywood style of marketing: Woo celebrities to your brand and everyone else will follow. The strategy isn't revolutionary. Designers frequently outfit actresses in gowns and jewels for red-carpet events like the Oscars, banking on the celebrities to bring cachet to their names.

But until recently, sneaker companies from adidas-Salomon AG to Nike Inc. relied solely on athletes for endorsements. The companies didn't see themselves as fashion brands. Their advertising focused on performance, their credibility won or lost on the basketball court, and their cachet earned by endorsements from superstar athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

As sales growth in the United States slows, however, sneaker makers are turning to new markets, moving into Europe and China, expanding into sportswear and introducing shoes that emphasize fashion over athletics. Reebok is leading the entertainment charge. The reason: With $3.5 billion in sales last year, Reebok can't compete with a $12-billion giant like Nike -- ''a company built by athletes for athletes" -- on its own turf.

''Reebok is taking the plunge into celebrity marketing and fashion culture," said Paul Swangard, director of the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. ''It's bringing the f-word -- fashion -- to the sneaker business."

The store has yet to celebrate its grand opening. That happens Tuesday night with movie-star-turned-California-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Reebok chief executive Paul Fireman acting as hosts, and a star-studded invite list including actors Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Tom Hanks, Sharon Stone, and Vanessa Williams.

But the celebration won't be the store's first brush with celebrity. Hotel heiress Paris Hilton dropped in and decided she had to have a pink Reebok Princess T-shirt. Nicole Kidman's personal shopper has been in twice. A DreamWorks SKG costume designer came in last week to pick out a few things for starlet Scarlett Johansson to wear in the upcoming sci-fi thriller ''The Island."

''Reebok recognizes that culture is part of their product," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at Port Washington, N.Y., market research firm NPD Group Inc. ''They want to be where culture is being influenced."

That means going where the celebrities are. From pop-star-turned-actress Jennifer Lopez to rapper Eminem, celebrities are designing everything from clothes to furniture these days. Pictures of stars like Pamela Anderson wearing Ugg boots and Ashton Kutcher wearing a Von Dutch trucker cap turned the brands into a must-have fashion items nationwide.

The way Cohen sees it, Reebok is simply facing reality. Less than a quarter of the people who buy running shoes actually run in them, and less than a third buying basketball shoes play ball in them, he said. That means sneakers are already a fashion business.

Reebok became the first of its rivals to sign a hip-hop star, Jay-Z, to a shoe deal two years ago. Within months, it launched Rbk, a collection of street-inspired footwear and clothes designed to reflect the attitude of today's youth -- ''cool and edgy, authentic and aspirational."

Reebok's stable of celebrity endorsers now includes Jay-Z with the S. Carter collection, rapper 50 Cent with his G-Unit collection, hip-hop star Pharrell Williams with Ice Cream footwear and Billionaire Boys Club clothing collections and pop star Eve.

German sneaker maker adidas launched rap star Missy Elliott's signature Respect M.E. clothing and shoe collection this fall. Though Nike personalized shoes for celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Halle Berry and Nelly to raise money for charity, the Beaverton, Ore., company said it has no plans to venture outside the world of sports for shoe deals.

Reebok can't overpower Nike's performance message, despite licensing deals with the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and endorsement deals with NBA star Allen Iverson and tennis player Andy Roddick.

But it could beat Nike at a brand new game. For the price of one ad in one issue of GQ, Reebok said it can give away thousands of its sneakers, T-shirts, yoga outfits and cashmere shirts to celebrities.

''One photograph of a celebrity wearing its product is better than any ad," Cohen said. ''It's lightning in a bottle."

Reebok set the stage for its LA opening before it laid a single brick, inviting celebrities from Clint Eastwood to Mary-Kate Olsen to a shoe tent at the Beverly Hills Hotel the night before the Oscars for free Reeboks.

Reebok's Kaigler created a new position, manager of entertainment communications in LA, and hired Colin Brickley, a 27-year-old who compiled a roster of celebrity friends while working in marketing and product placement at Endeavor Talent Agency LLC and English shirt maker Ben Sherman.

For Brickley, creating buzz is about building relationships with celebrities and Hollywood taste-makers.

To that end, he'll arrange private fittings, wine and dine people, supply products for movie crews and costume designers. He'll book parties at the Rbk store -- one agent has already reserved the screening room for a couple Monday Night Football parties for his clients and friends.

Over lunch with his friend Charlie Hunnam, a 24-year-old rising star whose credits include a supporting role in ''Cold Mountain," Brickley even played shoe designer, brainstorming ideas for personalizing a shoe for Hunnam.

A self-confessed sneaker freak, the English-born actor favors Nikes. But he loves the idea of a one-of-a-kind Reebok designed for him.

''Who wouldn't want their own sneaker?" Hunnam said.

Naomi Aoki can be reached at naoki@globe.com.