Fashion Notebook

Puma Pumps Up Its Hollywood Jam

Looks like Puma's going Hollywood. 

The fashion athletic company said that it's opening a new office dedicated to entertainment marketing in Los Angeles next month. The West Coast operation will be geared to increasing corporate partnerships and product interaction with music and film celebrities. Can we get a "Sexy Back Speedcat"??!!

Anyways, you know what new offices mean! More staff! Puma USA is adding new roles to fill up the cubes the L.A. office (hey, it might be fashion, but it's all work-a-day office aesthetics, or so we have to believe as we stretch beyond the limits of our three walled container). Ryan Babenzien joins as head of U.S. marketing operations. He was formerly the business development and strategy consultant for Oddcast, New York, a company that does web authoring tools or some other such beep-boop-beep. Ryan Ayanian, who previously worked as a consultant for marketing agency Antenna, Ontario, Canada, has been hired as music marketing manager. And last, but not least (though we admit we have no knowledge of how Puma's hierarchy works) Ed Choi, who joined Puma in 2006 following at stint at ID Agency, Manhattan Beach, Calif., has been named entertainment marketing manager.

For Barney Waters, Puma North America's vp-marketing, the new office is a move to go "fish where the fish are," though he did note that the brand has had a smaller marketing presence on the West Coast for some time.

"These moves represent a recommitment to entertainment marketing as a real driver for the Puma brand," Waters told us over email. "We're also evolving our approach, as there are so many more opportunities beyond product placement. Hollywood is a great place to develop relationships and brand driven content, which can help reach the people that may not be spending as much time looking at traditional media outlets."

Puma has been making inroads with celebrities over the past several years, working on design and advertising projects with rapper Ludacris and socialite-heiress Lydia Hearst-Shaw (we're not saying she's 100%, but she's definitely not like the other socialite-heiresses we can think of. Barf Tinsley Mortimer and Paris Hilton!), among others. This month, Puma unveiled its new TV campaign, featuring cute-but-disposable Scottish singer/songwriter Paolo Nutini (pictured, right, smoking something). Nutini's single, "New Shoes," is being used in Puma’s lifestyle campaign. We were wondering how long it would take for that to get snatched up by the commercial world.

In May, the company will begin promotional tie-ins with the film Speed Racer, which will include a signature shoe, product placement in the movie and worldwide in-store promotional campaigns. BTW... Does anyone remember what exactly Speed Racer, the show, was about, you know besides a boy racing, like, fast? We're trying to recall, but just can't seem to do it. Somehow, this didn't seem like a movie idea to us. But 'tevs, we're not filmmakers. But why not a He-Man movie? Hey, we're just sayin'.

No notes on what they'll be spending this year to pull off these tie-ins and tie-ons. In 2006, Puma spent $13 million on advertising in the U.S., excluding online, down 23% from $17 million in 2006, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Breaking News: Reebok Names New CMO

Less than a month after former Reebok CMO Uli Becker took over as the brand's president and CEO, the top marketing spot has been filled at the Canton, Mass.-based athletic company.

And, much to our surprise, it's from someone inside Reebok and not an Adi ex-patriot, like Mr. Becker was.

The new CMO will be Matt O’Toole, former (and brief) President of Reebok North America, pictured, below, left. He gets most of his accolades (via Becker) for the work he did in growing the business at the Reebok-CCM Hockey division, where he had been president and CEO, prior to assuming his Reebok NA duties.

In his new role, O’Toole will lead the brand’s global marketing efforts, including product and design, sports marketing, brand marketing, and public relations. In addition to those duties, he will continue to direct the hockey business.

And now, the lovefest from Becker.

“Matt was appointed to lead our U.S. organization on the strength of his exceptional track-record in building Reebok-CCM Hockey’s brand and business, as well as his outstanding strategic marketing expertise,” said Becker, in a statement. “These are the skills that make him a natural choice for the role of CMO. In his short time as president of Reebok North America, Matt made a huge impact on the brand, leading our restructuring efforts for the U.S. market.”

Taking over O’Toole’s old post, will be Jim Gabel, who has been tapped as President of Reebok North America. Gabel was formerly svp at Adidas America, where he managed the U.S. Adidas brand business as well as its TaylorMade and Adidas Golf Canada divisions.

O’Toole will be officially installed April 1, with Gabel’s appointment effective mid-April.

It's not news that the brand is in troubling times. In an earnings statement released earlier this month by adidas, Reebok, which reports in euros, posted sales of $3.55 billion (at current exchange rates) for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2007, down 6% from the year earlier.

The company slashed its advertising budget nearly in half last year, spending only $17 million on measured media, excluding online, for 2007, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. That's down from $28 million in 2006. Maybe they'll pump the tank back to "Full" this year.

Here's hoping that the new team will be able to turn things around.

And now, in case you've missed it, a brief recap of stuff Reebok's been cooking up:

-Forthcoming, casual athletic-themed "Your Move" campaign, that we saw last year.
-A new line of Kool-Aid scented footwear.
-Oh yeah, and that "Freestyle World Tour" collection that's supposed to appeal to chicks across the globe. 

Week in Review Pt. 2: In Which Gap Rethinks Marketing Spend, Reebok's CMO Moves Into the Driver's Seat, and Airwalk Taps MySpace Celebrities

Once again, we're sorry that we've been silent for so long! But we've been writing a lot for that dying industry: the print book. Hey, you gotta eat!

Anyhow, here's a brief recap of our stories from last week, and this week, along with that snarky commentary that you guys seem to love. So here's a few things that you might have missed.

And now... back to the recap. (We promise some new stories very, very soon!)

Gap Brand Forgoes Spring TV Spot, Amid Tightening Following Rough Quarter
After Gap reported fourth quarter sales of $4.67 billion, a 5% drop from last year, the company had some interesting news on the marketing front.

The company is actively looking to trim costs as it weathers a “volatile economic environment,” said CEO Glenn Murphy, in a conference call to analysts on Feb. 28.

The struggling retailer will reexamine its marketing plans for the second half of 2008, once it has a better understanding of its holiday efforts, said Murphy. “We’re very aware of the environment in which we’re operating in 2008, but not all of our marketing money is being revisited," he said. "Some portion is being re-looked at to make sure it’s being used appropriately, given that consumer sentiment is where it is, and that particularly applies at Old Navy.”

The immediate marketing plans for Old Navy and Banana Republic would remain similar in scope to last year’s, while the company has decided to forgo a spring TV campaign for the Gap brand, said evp/CFO Sabrina Simmons.

The primary focus of spring marketing for the namesake division will be print and in-store efforts for the retailer’s footwear collaboration with designer Pierre Hardy, due out in March. Additionally, Gap will launch a capsule T-shirt collection, a design collaboration with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, which will hit retail stores in April.

Hmm... Doesn't sound good. And add that to the fact that, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, Gap already cut its ad spend in half for last year, spending an estimated $55 million (down from $117 million in 2006), per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Old Navy spent an estimated $173 million on U.S. ads in 2007, down slightly from $200 million in 2006.

For the full story, click here.

Reebok CMO Uli Becker Moves Into the Driver's Seat as Prez/CEO Harrington Exits
Uli Becker got a jump last week, when the Reebok CMO was named president and CEO of the ailing brand, following the resignation (forced?) of top dog Paul Harrington, who had been with the company for 12 years.

This is actually something of a growing trend across industries, one that we've been keeping track of. In fact, wouldn't you know, we wrote something about it today. Check out that story, about CMOs migrating to the CEO and presidential roles, here.

Back to the relevance, Becker (photo, left) joined Reebok back in May 2006, following his duties as the head of global brand marketing for Adidas (Reebok's parent company) and managing director of Adidas International in Amsterdam. When he joined Reebok, Becker announced his intent to streamline marketing operations and to unify brand messaging, as the athletic footwear and apparel maker sought to turn its business around and reposition itself in the marketplace.

We like him. He's a straight shooting guy who's looking to get all of those mixed messages cleaned up and get the brand on the track to profitability, all with the kind of efficiency you'd expect from a German executive. So we expect good things, hopefully, and, it would appear, so does Adidas jefe principal Herbert Hainer.

"[Paul Harrington] played an instrumental role in managing the integration of Reebok into our group and laid the foundations for the repositioning of the Reebok brand worldwide," said Hainer, chairman and CEO of Adidas, in a statement. "Uli Becker's proven leadership and global marketing expertise make him uniquely qualified to take the revitalization of the Reebok brand to the next level, both internationally and in the US."

Reebok's marketing for 2008 would be focused on women's running and "American major league sports," underscored in the brand's forthcoming "Your Move" campaign, said Hainer. The campaign, previewed last year, aims to cast Reebok as the brand for individuals rather than hardcore athletes and is part of a larger effort for Reebok to capture the sport lifestyle market.

Details regarding a CMO replacement were not available.

McGarryBowen, New York, is the lead ad agency for Reebok. The company's latest ad campaign launched two weeks ago in conjunction with the release of its first "Freestyle World Tour" collection (but, of course, our readers already knew about that). The product line will include five new sneaker and apparel editions, which will roll out during the course of this year. "Freestyle Tokyo," which launched Feb. 21, will be followed by other editions that derive their name and design inspiration from cities like Paris, London, and New York.

For the full story, click here. For all of our Reebok-related posts, check here. 

Airwalk Looks at MySpace for Brand Models
In its spring 2008 campaign, which hits a variety of alterna- lifestyle titles in June (and it's not the 1990s anymore honey, so we're not talking about gay pubs, but rather the skate/surf/
snowboard glossies), Airwalk went to MySpace for part of its casting call.

In addition to leveraging images of its athletes, including Rodney Jones, the brand cast Lorene Drive, a band that creative director Jeff Buice found on MySpace, to be featured in their ads (check outtake spot, right). Even more interesting is that the ads feature mini-anecdotes from the talent, and directs readers to log onto Airwalk.com to see the full story, and then write in some stories of their own.

Buice told me that the idea is basically to make a social network around ad campaign creative. Yeah, it made us do a double take too. But Airwalk has been on the online game for sometime now, and this is just the latest way that they're engaging with the online market.

"We always do print ads because it still reaches tons of the demo that we’re going after. But the online component is growing massively, out of control, for our [consumers]," Buice told me. "The hook was finding a way to get people to correlate between the two, while still maintaining a focused, singular strategy."

Intrigued? Check out the full story, here. 

Adiesel "Successful Wastes of Time" Contest Results!

So the submissions have been sifted through, and here are our favorite responses to the question: “What’s the most successful way to waste your time?”

We’ll have to see if any of these make it into Adiesel’s “83 Ways to Successfully Waste Your Time” campaign due out next February in support of their new collaboration collection with Diesel.

Until then, here are your top 5 “successful” wastes of time:

1. Train a pigeon to deliver all of your inter-office mail (see carrier pigeon, right, sadly extinct). Hey, anything’s faster than the mailroom.

2. Googling ex-boyfriends/girlfriends/partners in order to silently triumph in your decision to drop them, or to breathe a sigh of relief at the bullet you dodged when they dropped you.

3. Surfing Fresh Direct for wines and new recipes. Because, you know, we still have another food-filled holiday to look forward to.

4. Facebook (for game-play, stalking and “social networking,” whatever that is).

5. Lifetime movie marathons. Because it’s good to know when Delta Burke’s biological clock is ticking, AND when it’s exploded. For more on that, check out the greatest film of the Lifetime genre. Ever.

Honorable Mention: “Listening to an aging baby boomer trapped in the 1960s.”

Adiesel: Upcoming Campaign Update

This just in! 

The campaign supporting the launch of the Adidas Originals Denim by Diesel collection will be titled "83 Original Ways to Successfully Waste Your Time."

Since the campaign is launching in tandem with the product—which hits Adidas Originals stores worldwide Feb. 1—there aren't anymore details coming from Adi HQ  in Herzogenaurach, Germany, and we won't be able to check out any of the creative until next year, I'm more than intrigued to know how this one will go off.

Seems like the perfect fodder for a write-in contest, especially since I know you guys are "successfully" wasting your time this rainy (at least in NYC) Cyber Monday doing your holiday shopping!

Either leave me a comment, or drop me a line here with your suggestions for the best "ways to successfully waste your time." The top 5 will be posted later today, so get yours in ASAP!

(FYI: Submissions won't won't be attributed to the sender. That way, no one has to know how you, in particular, "successfully" waste your time.)

Adiesel: Where Adidas meets Diesel

The latest in the now near-ubiquitous world of fashion-athletic design collaborations, Adidas announced today  that it's inked a four-year deal with Italian denim lifestyle company Diesel to create "Adidas Originals  Denim by Diesel."

That's quite a mouthful (why not just "Adiesel"?) for four pairs of jeans, two styles each for guys and gals, examples of which appear at left. You'll start seeing them at Adidas Originals stores worldwide Feb. 1, and if you're so inclined you'll throw down 160 to 210 euros, or about $240 to $320 in our currency. Not cheap, but not out of the realm of outrageously priced denim currently out there on retail shelves at Atrium, A Bathing Ape, A.P.C., or any of the more upscale department stores.

While the product looks pretty much de rigeur for premium denim, more importantly, the deal gives Adidas one more link in its lifestyle chain (which has included the Y-3 line, designed by Yohji Yamamoto, since 2002), according to a statement by Hermann Deininger, CMO of Adi's sport style division.

"Now when a consumer walks into one of our stores, we can offer them a complete look, from a track top to jeans to a pair of sneakers," he said.

The line will be designed by both the Adidas Originals teams and Diesel's own creative department, and stitched with both Diesel and Adidas logo details.

Not many details on the marketing front yet, though head corp PR honcho Anne Putz told me that there will be a "below the line campaign"  that will include an online initiative, in addition to pr efforts and in-store promotions.

Introducing Reebok Entertainment: Movies from the Marketing Department

Can a marketing department that traditionally deals in print
images and 30-second TV spots, create an series of 30-minute short films?

Reebok seems to think so. The athletic company is rolling out "Framed," a series of athlete portraits that will air on IFC starting Dec. 14, created by Reebok Entertainment, a new division of the brand that will handle, per the company's statement, "all areas of entertainment, including music, arts and film."

The first installment sets up what the whole shebang will be like: television actress Emmanuelle Chriqui (don't worry, I didn't recognize the name either, then again, I'm not an Entourage fan) will jet set to Los Angeles and Las Vegas to conduct interviews with Baron Davis (below, left, with Chriqui, the Golden State Warriors star) about his passions, his life, and all that jazz. And Chriqui won't only be doing the interviews, she'll be directing, as will all of the actors, comedians and musicians that follow her in the series.

Future pairings in the works including Allen Iverson and rapper Nelly, Barcelón soccer star Thierry Henry and actress Paz Vega (star of indie foreign hit "Sex and Lucía" for you movie buffs), Red Soxer David Ortiz and Hispano-median Carlos Mencia. Call me a doubting Thomas, but I'm not sure how much faith I have in Nelly, Mencia or Chriqui's directorial abilities, particularly when it comes to the art crowd that frequents IFC. I'm only holding Vega from that list because, well, her past couple of movies have been pretty arty, or at the very least, titillating and pretty to look at, much like Vega herself.

"Through our first original television series, 'Framed,' we can show consumers sides to these global icons often unseen," said  Reebok's head of sports and entertainment marketing, Todd Krinsky, in a statement. "We're thrilled to be able to bring together Hollywood talent and our roster of top athletes to crate a unique viewer experience that lives outside of traditional advertising."

Which brings up a good point: what's the branding promotional value? Will the celebs be donning Reebok gear during these jaunts through their past and present lives? Will logos live on the bottom of the screen? Will there at least be a "brought to you by Reebok" slug? No answer on that yet: stay tuned.

Criticism aside, it is kind of an interesting idea and I know enough of my sports-fan friends who would likely tune in. I just have to wonder though, how will the Reebok content, though on a much different channel, present something those target viewers haven't already seen on one of several MTV programs, such as "Cribs," or "Diary"? One to watch, pun intended.

Move Over Vera, Kohl's Latest is Fila

Kohl's announced today that it will have exclusive U.S. retail distribution for Fila Sport, part of a multi-year licensing deal it has inked with the Seoul, Korea-based athletic brand. The collection—a full-arsenal mix of apparel and accessories for women, men and children—hits Kohls brick n' mortar and online in fall 2008.

According to the company, the move is geared toward cashing in on consumers’ increasing adoption of sports and activewear across a wider variety of wear occasions. Hmmm... Where have I heard that before?

“Industrywide, the active and sport business continues to grow [and] the addition of Fila Sport capitalizes on the market opportunity and expands our exclusive offerings with one of the most recognizable names in sportswear,” said Kohl's Prez Kevin Mansell, in a statement.

Per the agreement, Kohl’s will work with Fila on product design for the collection, in addition to heading up the manufacturing, production, distribution, sales and marketing of Fila Sport. Sounds like it's a Kohl's line that just has Fila's named slapped on the label. 

The Fila deal is the latest licensing agreement for the company, following a much-hyped launch of its collaboration with womens-wear designer Vera Wang, dubbed Very Simply Vera by Vera Wang, in September. For more on that collaboration, and others like it, check out my piece, Split Personality.

Champion Talks Lifestyle to Twentysomethings

Remember Champion?  The brand behind that Harvard hoodie you stole from your roommate that summer in Boston.  You know, the one you still wear so everyone thinks you were Ivy League?

Well they're coming back in a whole new way. The Hanesbrands subsidiary announced this week that it will launch an estimated $27 million campaign dubbed: “How you play.” It's their largest campaign in about a decade—which is like a century in the fickle world of fashion—and it's all aimed at getting  twentysomethings back in the brand's coffers with a more lifestyle image. The hitch is that the brand is now best-known among consumers ages 30-50 who discovered the brand in college. To date, it’s still number one in branded, collegiate memorabilia apparel.

“The strategy is to engage the twentysomething consumer, which is the right place for the Champion brand, with creative that shows the genuine, approachable sports activities in everyday life,” Claire Edgar, Champion's brand marketing director, told me.

Print ads, out-of-home and online component, per Kaplan Thaler, New York, are “about people being active in a social space; a pick-up football game, a guy and a girl wrestling,” said Edgar.

That last one, and the one clipped left (click on photo for larger image), bear an uncanny resemblance to those American Apparel ads, no? Or maybe it's just me.

Anyhow, it's a good, if rather predictable, move for Champion, since consumers are increasingly incorporating athletic wear into the more casual facets of their lifestyle.

The print ads hit December issues including Details, US Weekly, and Vogue. Initially, the spots will be focused on showing off the more stylish looks, but early next year Champion will shift its focus to play up performance-related products as consumers rush to sign gym memberships after packing on a few holiday pounds. Out of home advertisements start this week in Los Angeles. It will then roll out in Chicago, Dallas, Miami and New York through December.