Over the past few years, Reebok has done wonders with its focus on understanding the needs of the consumer and developing products based on their requirements. The success of EasyTone and the growing consumer base across the Middle East is a testament of the brand’s achievements over the last year. Following the footsteps of its success, Reebok Middle East has now embarked on a journey into the exclusive fitness needs of the Middle Eastern consumer. The company today announced the launch of its ‘Ask the Reebok Fitness expert’ road show.
As part of the fitness road show, Zena Habi - Reebok’s Fitness Expert – will be meeting and interacting with Reebok customers at select stores in the UAE and Qatar. The first leg of the road show starts at the newly-opened Reebok store in Mirdif City Centre on 24th April. Zena will be in store between 12 noon and 1 pm, meeting consumers and answering their personal queries on fitness.
Commenting on the road show, Mark Greiner, Sales and Marketing Manager, R.B.K. Middle East - the sole distributor for Reebok in the GCC, said: “The Middle East poses an interesting challenge to my peers in the product development team. The varied culture, lifestyle and how they use the product is very different from the West. We believe that investing time in understanding and meeting the varied customer requirements is inevitable and in line with this, we are focussing on aligning our customer outreach campaigns accordingly. With our ‘Ask the Reebok Fitness Expert’ road show, we aim to help them understand their fitness needs and products, while collecting insights that will help design and develop better products.”
Reebok tied up with Zena in July 2009 and the association was in line with the brand’s increased focus in the women’s fitness space. The road show is part of Reebok’s initiative in the region to enable direct engagement with the consumer, aimed at understanding and addressing their fitness needs.
In her comments, Zena Habi said: “I have been a fitness instructor/consultant for 11 years now and have met young, old, Arab, non Arab fitness enthusiasts. Every conversation is different and poses a unique challenge. Among the most common question I encounter is: What shoe should I wear or is there a brand that develops fitness gear for Arabs? While no brands do that, or can do that, the large variety and needs are just impossible to collate in a single collection. However, in my experience with Reebok, I have found products across collections that go well with the conservative cultures. During this road show, I hope to be able to collect saleable insights that could lead to improvising products for the needs of Arabs.”
The road show then travels to Abu Dhabi [Studio R at MarinaMall] on 29th April between 10.30 am and 11:30 am; followed by the Reebok Store at Dubai Mall on 1st May from 12 noon to 1 pm, followed by the Fitness Centre at Sharjah Ladies Club on 2nd May from 11 am to 12 noon. The last fitness road show will be held in Qatar, with Zena available for interaction with consumers at the Go Sports outlet in Villagio Mall on 5th May between 10 am and 11 am. Based on the success of this roadshow, the brand plans to cover other markets in the future.
Zena, who is the founding member and managing partner of UAE-based Fitness02 - a one-stop shop for fitness and health activities and a pioneer in the boot camp work out programs in the UAE – is involved in various fitness activities across the region. People acknowledge Zena from her presenting stint on the ‘Biggest Loser’ - a reality TV series conducted in Jordan that aimed at obese people who wanted to lose weight.
Over the years, Reebok has designed products and programs that reflect creativity and the desire to constantly bring a change in lifestyle and providing a new dimension to the fitness regime in the region. The road show in UAE and Qatar are major steps in that direction.
