Reebok no longer sponsors Zap

Fox did all the training for the top groups at Syracuse, not the assistants.

Stop spreading fake news.

Not the way it works wrote:

Nike offers $80k

Reebok offers $150k

Justyn decides like we all would that he can run in an inferior product for an additional $70k.

Reebok did not win because of their quality product. Meb didn't sign with Skechers because of the quality.

Kemoy Campbell was given $40K under New Balance and Reebok offered $100k. New Balance pushed him in Reebok's direction because there was more money and they wanted him to get paid more. This isn't a lie because this was from a higher up at New Balance.

Kemoy. Hahahaha

Another foreign athlete garnering ZERO publicity for the brand.

Kemoy Campbell, Justyn Knight, Ben Flanagan. What a weird way to start a training group in the US.

Unsuperman wrote:

Kemoy. Hahahaha

Another foreign athlete garnering ZERO publicity for the brand.

Kemoy Campbell, Justyn Knight, Ben Flanagan. What a weird way to start a training group in the US.

Last I checked, Canadians buy shoes too. And Jamaicans buy shoes. I'm pretty sure every country outside of Africa buys shoes.

3 of my running club members and I attended ZAP adult running vacations a few years back and got to know all of their resident team, a very nice group. Through them I was introduced to Reebok product in their on campus store. I hadn't seen Reebok in years and decided to buy a couple pair (as did my friends from Kansas City). Since then I have been buying Reeboks every year through ZAP online, because I like the shoes certainly but also because I wanted to support the runners I made a connection with during my stay. I don't know sports marketing well at all but it seems that ZAP's year round connection to the hobby joggers of the world like me who really drive the sport (because we buy shoes) - that for that reason alone it would have been good for reebok to hang on to this club. Most of my club members couldn't tell you the difference between a 13:20 5k and a 13:50 and most have never heard of any of the runners you are all talking about - but when they make a personal connection to a runner or group as we did in 2010 & 2012, we became excited about them and their brands.

So why the f*ck do they call it Reebok Boston Track Club if it's actually based several states away?? So lame.

99% chance the new sponsor is Hoka.

thisguy wrote:

99% chance the new sponsor is Hoka.

Not Hoka.

On Running it Is. This will be On's chance to move into the American Market. The Camps will spread the awesome product to the positive infectious mainstream (lrc hobby jogger) crowd.

Droddy & Stinson's Communal Bong wrote:

So why the f*ck do they call it Reebok Boston Track Club if it's actually based several states away?? So lame.

Why not use Canada as a home base? Can you imagine if Jerry Schumacher were to move The Bowerman Track Club to Mexico? A bit of a head scratcher.

Any sponsorship of an elite runner or group is pretty much an act of charity. I can't imagine there's a runner on Earth who justifies his/her sponsorship in terms of profit returned to the company.

I'm a former college runner and current hobby jogger and don't really follow elite running at all. I can barely name any elite runners, and certainly can't tell you what shoes any of them wear. I promise you this is the case for a majority of hobby joggers, so I don't know who these companies think they're reaching by sponsoring elite runners.

hipster doofus wrote:

Any sponsorship of an elite runner or group is pretty much an act of charity. I can't imagine there's a runner on Earth who justifies his/her sponsorship in terms of profit returned to the company.

I'm a former college runner and current hobby jogger and don't really follow elite running at all. I can barely name any elite runners, and certainly can't tell you what shoes any of them wear. I promise you this is the case for a majority of hobby joggers, so I don't know who these companies think they're reaching by sponsoring elite runners.

You're posting on LetsRun and don't follow elite running? LOL. Sure, bro.

I agree with you, though. With the exception of the Japanese and maybe Africa, virtually no-one follows elite running that isn't a competitive runner themselves.

Corporations don't really do charity. I've had conversations about this with people who are very high in the organizations of a couple companies. They don't seem to know exactly what the value of sponsoring elite runners is but they know it's valuable. They wouldn't do it otherwise.

Look at Sketchers. No one on this board took them seriously as a running shoe company for years. And then they signed Meb and now we take them seriously.

rojo wrote:

LoneStarXC wrote:

What’s going to happen to the elite zap team?

No changes. They have already secured a new sponsor. Jonathan Gault has the latest info:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2019/01/reebok-ends-its-sponsorship-of-zap-fitness-after-14-years/

You said this like you had different info than a bunch of anonymous posters who already told us all of this.

thisguy wrote:

hipster doofus wrote:

Any sponsorship of an elite runner or group is pretty much an act of charity. I can't imagine there's a runner on Earth who justifies his/her sponsorship in terms of profit returned to the company.

I'm a former college runner and current hobby jogger and don't really follow elite running at all. I can barely name any elite runners, and certainly can't tell you what shoes any of them wear. I promise you this is the case for a majority of hobby joggers, so I don't know who these companies think they're reaching by sponsoring elite runners.

You're posting on LetsRun and don't follow elite running? LOL. Sure, bro.

I agree with you, though. With the exception of the Japanese and maybe Africa, virtually no-one follows elite running that isn't a competitive runner themselves.

I'm serious. This is letsrun.com, not letstalkaboutotherpeoplewhorun.com.

“In terms of all of the support with salary and health insurance and lodging and meals and travel and all that we do, nothing’s changing at all,” Rea said. “…The good thing about the business model that my wife [Zika] and her late husband Andy [Palmer] set up when they started ZAP is we’ve never been reliant on one funding source. ZAP the business, our retreat center that runs camps for high school and college teams and educational retreats, produces about one-third of our income. The other third comes from nonprofit donations, which is about 200-300 donors per year, and then the final third of the pie has always been a corporate sponsor.”

Who the F would give Zap a "nonprofit donation?" Relatives of the runners?

The hundreds of people who’ve attended their retreats throughout the years, zap alums, running fans. They have a very loyal group of people that have been coming to retreats for 10+ years.

grumpyoldman wrote:

“In terms of all of the support with salary and health insurance and lodging and meals and travel and all that we do, nothing’s changing at all,” Rea said. “…The good thing about the business model that my wife [Zika] and her late husband Andy [Palmer] set up when they started ZAP is we’ve never been reliant on one funding source. ZAP the business, our retreat center that runs camps for high school and college teams and educational retreats, produces about one-third of our income. The other third comes from nonprofit donations, which is about 200-300 donors per year, and then the final third of the pie has always been a corporate sponsor.”

Who the F would give Zap a "nonprofit donation?" Relatives of the runners?

grumpyoldman wrote:

Who the F would give Zap a "nonprofit donation?" Relatives of the runners?

You could pose the same question about the people who donate to any college athletics booster club. Or any nonprofit for that matter. If someone wants to donate to a 501(c)(3) organization and take a tax writeoff, who's to question why they chose one vs. another?

Word around the water cooler is that 361' has aligned with Zap. Smart move, their group is out-of-the-box ready to produce national team class athletes.

There are so many rumors on this board that telling the truth becomes meaningless.

ZAP SIGNED WITH “ON”. I told you this a month ago.