***UPDATE – 5th March 2012***
The advert below got its UK television launch yesterday on Sky Sports 1 after the Tottenham Hotspurs v Manchester United match. It will get its first terrestrial airing during Coronation Street tonight. Might be worth setting your Sky+
***END***
We know that CrossFit is fantastic – it’s effective, fun and builds friendships and community. Reebok agrees, which is why they have partnered with CrossFit in a 10 year deal. Reebok sponsors the Reebok CrossFit Games and are launching a large scale marketing campaign from this Sunday. The advert below will air for the first time during the NFC Divisional Playoffs in the US.
There are around 3,000 CrossFit gyms around the world and by the end of 2012 around 150 of these will have Reebok CrossFit branding. Reebok CrossFit One is one of these affiliates and is based at Reebok HQ in Massachusetts. Here the workforce from the President down is benefiting from the camaraderie, improved fitness and even increased productivity. Over the past year 425 participants at Reebok CrossFit One lost over 4,000lb between them.
So Reebok has bought into the CrossFit philosophy but there are concerns from some CrossFitters that this is a corporate sell out and from some gym owners that this association threatens their affiliate. Chris and I have put lots of time, money and passion into CrossFit Tameside because CrossFit changed our lives and we want it to do the same for others. It’s been really hard, building up equipment as we can afford it and juggling money between accounts. It’s hard not to feel a bit threatened by and even a bit jealous of these new Reebok CrossFit affiliates which are opening with no expense spared.
But anything that brings CrossFit to more people can only be a good thing. Reebok hopes that CrossFit will be hugely popular and by associating their name with the brand they’ll sell lots of CrossFit specific apparel and shoes. CrossFit has grown and grown precisely because it’s an open source, grass-roots movement and community; any attempt to ‘corporatise’ by Reebok would be massively unpopular. Instead they’re helping us get even more exposure in the hope that we’ll all be impressed by and loyal to their gear. It’s up to us as affiliates to keep the community feel through the popularity explosion that seems to be on the cards.
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