193 – Ben Blakesley of Reebok – Right Message, Right Voice, Right Person

Footwear and apparel social media marketing strategy with Reebok... Ben Blakesley, Director, Global Social Media for Reebok (bio), joins Rob Sanchez, Marc Raco and guest hosts Julia Macalaster (Head of Strategy & Growth at Def Method) on location at the Millennial 20/20 Summit in New York. A marketing utility belt of tools, democratizing conversations and diversification Blakesley reviews how important it is to have the right message at the right time with right person, discusses the utility belt of tools being huge and growing every day, how social media democratizes conversations we used to only be able to have one on one or with small groups, and the objective of building relationships and trust. The business objectives, and looking at being responsive vs. how much state of art of technology. Matching what social media is good at with objectives, diversification of a social media portfolio. Managing the right voice, navigating culture and language differences, doing something vs. being like something How social media guidelines are determined from a long developed voice of brand, and making sure partners always have the right voice no matter the international region. Reebok stands for being the best version of yourself, feeling confident, how a message is built on different platforms, and the language and version of message changes. The difference in how using social media to connect consumers wanting apparel for different reasons, using the product to do something vs. being like something, the goals to be building relationships, and repositioning the brand POV, and driving web traffic. Finding common ground with the audience, from lemons to lemonade, and Back to the Future Using social media to direct posts to specific audiences, focusing on what people in the world care about, and what Reebok wants to talk about, and finding that sliver of common ground. Plus, Blakesley reflects on the net big thing in content. Off the Grid Questions covers making lemonade from lemons, how getting cut from a baseball team led to a championship and scholarship, finding a great book with a well-targeted social media surprise, and being inspired by alien-looking shoes.