Global athletic brand Reebok has revealed that it is leveraging real-time marketing methods to determine where and when it needs to publish content to engage with and meet the needs of its target audience.
Reebok’s Senior Global Content Manager, Blair Hammond, recently spoke about the challenges of creating content with a timely message that an audience is interested in rather than merely pushing an internal brand story or message. To facilitate the process, Reebok brought together its PR, social media and content teams to improve its output.
Hammond said that there will always be areas that a brand cares about and an audience cares about, and pinpointing and doubling down on an overlap of interests is required in order to make content that is relevant to audiences’ lives.
“Three times a week, our whole new news room gets together early in the morning; everybody has a seat at the table, and we’re talking about what our consumer is reading and experiencing online,” Hammond said. “So it might have nothing to do with Reebok, but this is just like reading the room — we’re going to work the room, and we’re going to figure out who is most important to us as a contact.”
She added: “We’re looking at things like memes, trending topics, articles, people. […] And we decide when we speak up and when we don’t, and yes, there’s a level of criteria to go through to make that decision.”
Looking to ride a “wave of interest” or “cultural relevancy” is beneficial for brands, as this makes it possible to enter the conversation and add value. Reebok recently tapped into this with its partnership with model Gigi Hadid. Hadid’s popularity spiked during Fashion Week, but as she was unavailable to appear in content during that time, the apparel giant made a series of short clips months in advance to share so that it could still be part of the conversation.
Hammond also believes that big corporations must prioritise speed and efficiency when creating content, as losing ideas through laborious email exchanges can slow down the process. Instead, ideas should be spoken about quickly, face-to-face, so that content can come to fruition in a short space of time without confusion.
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