Reebok’s Revival Under Shaq and Iverson Could Spark a Cultural Power Move
Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson are leading Reebok’s revival, blending heritage with modern strategy.
Reebok doesn’t just want to sell shoes again. It wants its place back in culture, basketball, and the streets. And it’s banking on two of its most iconic athletes to lead the charge: Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson.
Both were faces of the brand during its strongest era. Both helped shape how Reebok was seen, not just as Nike’s challenger, but as a brand with its own voice, its own audience, its own style. And now, after years on the sidelines, they’re not just endorsing it. They’re running it.
Shaq was named President of Reebok Basketball in 2023. Iverson, his longtime contemporary, was named Vice President. They’re not creative directors in name only, they’re tasked with rebuilding Reebok’s identity from within. And with the launch of a six-part Netflix docuseries, Power Moves, they’re bringing everyone along for the ride.
But here’s the thing, this isn’t just a peek behind the curtain. The documentary is the strategy.
Let’s rewind.
In the ’90s, Reebok wasn’t chasing culture, it was helping create it.
Shaq’s Shaq Attaq and Shaqnosis weren’t just performance shoes. They were cartoonishly bold, larger-than-life designs that mirrored his persona. He was dominating the paint and dunking with brute force. Reebok captured that energy in foam and leather. Kids didn’t just want to hoop in them, they wanted to be him.
Iverson, on the other hand, brought something raw. His Question and Answer lines were gritty, defiant, and stylish, much like his play. AI wasn’t polished. He was attitude and flair and a crossover that left defenders grabbing at air. Reebok leaned in hard, using him to speak directly to the streets, to hip-hop, to the generation being raised on mixtapes and hardwood highlights.
At their peak, Reebok was outselling Adidas in the US and standing toe-to-toe with Nike. But the momentum faded. The 2005 Adidas acquisition never delivered. Reebok got lost in the corporate shuffle. The cultural relevance faded. By the mid-2010s, they were a shell of their former self, hanging onto CrossFit and UFC partnerships while Nike and Adidas ran the game in basketball.
Follow me for more sports and life updates: Instagram
The brand’s 2021 sale to Authentic Brands Group marked a reset. ABG specialises in reviving legacy names, and Shaq, already a shareholder, was always going to be part of the plan.
What makes this play different is the structure. Instead of trying to ride nostalgia alone, they’re injecting it with narrative, visibility and actual leadership. Shaq and Iverson aren’t just lending their names, they’re shaping the product, the campaigns, and the brand strategy.
The Netflix series is the smartest part. To the average viewer, it’s just a sports doc. A behind-the-scenes look at two legends helping out an old friend. But for anyone paying attention to how modern branding works, it’s crystal clear. This is branded storytelling. It’s the relaunch campaign in motion.
We’ve seen this tactic work with extraordinary success. Ryan Reynolds didn’t turn Wrexham into a global story by releasing kits and tweeting scores. He built a documentary series (Welcome to Wrexham) that gave the world a front-row seat to the drama, emotion, and charm of a club in a forgotten part of the country of Wales. The result? Global awareness, merchandise sales, celebrity engagement, and a full cultural rebrand.
The same goes for Drive to Survive. Formula 1 was already a global sport, but it hadn’t really cracked America. The Netflix series changed that overnight. By focusing less on the lap times and more on the personalities, the rivalries, the team politics, the emotional stakes, it made the sport bingeable, relatable, and relevant. Now you’ve got sellout races in Miami, Vegas and Austin, and US-based brands scrambling to get involved. The sport didn’t change. The access did. And that’s what unlocked a new fanbase.
Reebok is betting on the same idea: bring people inside, tell the right story, and let the product carry the legacy, a legacy that starts with a lot of brand equity. This is a label that already has cultural weight. People remember The Answer. They remember Iverson’s tattoos and baggy shorts. All of that matters in an era where authenticity and story matter more than product specs.
But they’re not just trying to win back forty-somethings chasing nostalgia. The signing of Angel Reese, one of women’s basketball’s breakout stars and an unapologetic cultural figure, is the clearest sign of that.
She was the first major NIL athlete signed by Reebok under the new leadership and has since extended her relationship as a pro. She’s not being positioned as a token partnership. She’s central to the new vision. Young, bold, and media savvy, Reese represents the direction Reebok wants to go, connected to sport, culture, and community.
It’s also a signal that Reebok wants to play in the modern sports economy, where brand value is built as much through narrative and personality as it is through championships.
The cultural foundation is already there. What Shaq and Iverson bring now is credibility. Not as athletes, but as stewards of something they helped build.
They’ve lived through both Reebok’s peak and its decline. They understand what made it connect. And now they’ve been given control, not to repeat the past, but to modernise it.
Reebok doesn’t need to beat Nike or Adidas outright. It just needs to be meaningful again. Relevant again. Cool again. And with two icons leading from the front, a compelling story in motion, and a world where brand identity travels through content and social reach, they’ve never been better positioned to do it.
Here’s the documentary Trailer
Thank you for reading, David Skilling.
Follow me on LinkedIn | X | Instagram
If you hit the like button, you’ll be doing me a huge favour, and if your business needs sports writing, feel free to get in contact.
If you know someone who will enjoy this article, please share it with them.