Burnett Resigns $100 Mil. Reebok Account

By Scott Hume





CHICAGO–Leo Burnett resigned the $100 million Reebok International account last week, citing perpetual creative and philosophical differences. The agency had handled creative work since September 1993 and took on media buying the following year.





Brenda Goodell, vice president of U.S. marketing for Stoughton, Mass.-based Reebok, said the company’s intention is to work with ‘a variety of agencies and creative resources’ as it has been doing recently. It may not select a lead agency to succeed Burnett. ‘We will consider a lot of agencies,’ she said. One agency will likely be chosen for media buying.





One such agency may be Heater Advertising in Boston, which last week created a quick-turnaround television spot for the company that congratulated Reebok endorser Allen Iverson, named National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year. Another agency that Reebok works with is Lowe & Partners/SMS, which has the account in Great Britain.





Reebok last month said it was asking Burnett to create partnerships with other marketing agencies with whom it would be working on the account, but that Burnett appeared to be losing creative control. For example, a TV spot featuring Shaquille O’Neal, which is currently airing, was produced by O’Neal, his agent Leonard Armato and his management company, Management Plus.





‘The partnership approach wasn’t the problem, and this decision was not a reaction to that,’ said Jim Thompson, Burnett executive vice president and worldwide account head on Reebok. ‘It has been a long-term problem with philosophies and the ways we and they approach advertising.





‘Reebok tends to be more tactical; we’d like to be more methodical in brand building. While Reebok has liked the work we’ve done up to now, the process of getting there is very, very difficult. We’ve put some new creative teams on the business and they’ve all begun very excited and hopeful but have run into the same frustrations,’ said Thompson.





Copyright ASM Communications, Inc. (1997) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED





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