When Sony Pictures released the DVD of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, they did something fantastic: they made the DVD look like a bootlegged copy, as homage to lead character (and hacker) Lisbeth Salander. Read all about it here.
Redken Stylestation
Working from the insight that 1/3 of hairstylists use smartphones, Redken has introduced a new app to help stylists create formulas and share style ideas with clients. Read about it here or get the app here!
Brita’s Chinese New Year Ltd Ed Water Jug
Brita celebrated the Chinese new year – and launched their first community-targeted product with the release of the limited edition red water jug. They repurposed a US-only colour series red pitcher, creating custom packaging and point-of-sale display material marking the Year of the Dragon. According to Clorox, they have seen a substantial sell-through rate on this SKU. Very clever, Brita. Read all about it here
The Sport of Fitness
If you know me in real life, you probably know about my obsession with fitness organization/movement/philosophy/cult CrossFit (www.crossfit.com). I was referred to it two years ago by a friend and promptly fell in love with the fun and effective exercise regimen. Since then, my fitness levels are much higher than they’ve ever been and I’m far stronger (current records include a 210 lbs back squat, 270 lbs deadlift and 110 lbs bench press), plus I get to annoy my friends by posting workout photos on my Facebook page. It’s a win-win!
Usually, when I speak to people about CrossFit, I get curious looks and have to explain what it is (which I merrily do). That may soon change. In 2010, CrossFit HQ teamed up with sports apparel manufacturer Reebok (www.reebok.com) for a multi-year partnership deal. In exchange for what one can only hope was a large sum of money, CrossFit gave Reebok naming rights to its annual Games and licensed the opening of Reebok CrossFit gyms and sports apparel.
Reebok has kicked off the broad advertising of this partnership with TV spots announcing the arrival of “The Sport of Fitness” and showing branded, red transport boxes “landing” in major cities and days-long experiential programs in the middle of town. Toronto enjoyed such a launch last week, when Reebok erected a large heated tent in Yonge-Dundas Square. Inside was a pop-up shop featuring a limited range of their CrossFit apparel and equipment, as well as a small gym equipped with monkey bars, medicine balls, rowing machines, kettlebells and Olympic barbells. I went in on a Friday afternoon and was told that free WODs (workout-of-the-day) were held at 5:30pm.
I ventured back on Saturday afternoon. After cruising the clothing (http://www.reebok.com/en-US/#!/) and shoes, I moved to the gym area to cheer on 15 members of my own gym, the awesome CrossFit Toronto (www.crossfitto.com), as they participated in 7 minute WODs to demonstrate our sport to enthusiastic crowds.
I will be interested in seeing how this deal pans out. CrossFit has the stronger brand, so Reebok has a lot of brand equity to draw from. The challenge will be leveraging CrossFit to appeal its devotees and gain fitness cred, while going broad enough to achieve a reasonable ROI and erasing the memory of the EasyTone sneaker, all the while remaining true to the goal of CrossFit: elite fitness. If they water down CrossFit, there will be hell to pay, but if CrossFit doesn’t become a bit less intimidating it won’t capture a broad base.
This is quite the juggling act and I wish them both the best of luck. I’ll be watching from over here… swinging a kettlebell.
Media Darling
I was recently profiled in a Canadian marketing industry trade magazine called Marketing magazine. The response and kudos have been overwhelming (people are very nice!). You can read the article here.
