While fintech and footwear might seem worlds apart, Reebok co-founder Joe Foster believes the fintech industry can learn valuable lessons from the shoe wear company’s brand strategy.
Speaking at Money 20/20 Asia, Foster encouraged fintechs to find ‘white space’ in the market by targeting untapped audiences or offering something radically different from larger competitors.
When Reebok was founded, Joe Foster and his brother had few resources and knew they couldn’t go head-to-head with established giants. That meant finding areas the big brands had overlooked. For example, they couldn’t go into football because Adidas had already dominated that area.
But as Reebok prepared to enter the US market, Foster identified an untapped opportunity in aerobics, a growing fitness trend led by women. In response, Reebok developed a shoe specifically for women, designed around their lifestyle and offered in women’s sizes.
The strategy paid off as Reebok quickly became synonymous with aerobics, giving the brand a powerful foothold in the market, Foster says.
“We were only a small running brand, but as soon as we picked up on women, we became an enormous brand that women could own,” he says.
Foster also emphasises the lasting power of brand, noting that while many founders focus on making money, a strong brand endures far beyond any short-term profits. As a result, it’s crucial to create positive, lasting impressions with customers from the very beginning, he says.
“You’ve got to build something people never forget. Impress them when they’re young and that brand will stay with them forever,” he says.
Although Reebok was founded in 1958, Foster says the fundamentals of building a brand through smart marketing remain much the same today.
“Today we have social media, we have so many ways to tell a story. We did have influencers, influencers have been there since my grandfather’s time. He used to give his shoes to leading runners. He grew a fantastic business from that,” he says.
Therefore, fintech companies looking to disrupt the market should take a page from Reebok’s branding playbook and identify gaps where larger competitors aren’t present. From there, they must focus on building meaningful, long-term relationships with customers, he says.