Monday, March 10, 2014

New Balance - Strides Ahead with Social Media



Okay I admit I like to blog about products that I am passionate about, with this week's blog I hold true to form.


From their quality to their comfort, I love New Balance sneakers they are leaps and bounds better than the rest. 


Started in Boston in 1906, New Balance has been making sneakers ever since.


For more than 100 years, New Balance has been a brand focused on understanding the needs of athletes and designing products to match. From the early days of selling arch supports to police officers and waiters, to our current research with world-class athletes in our Sports Research Lab, we have always been consumed by the body in motion and dedicated to Making Excellent Happen every single day.

The New Balance sneaker evolution over the years...















Having gone from frumpy to fashionable, even Custom New Balance kicks are now available on-line... 


And just as their footwear design has taken major strides, New Balance's campaign strategy has raced ahead as well.  Gone are the old top down campaigns of the past "run" by executives.


Today, when it comes to embracing Social Media and the Groundswell,  
New Balance leads the pack.


 But it didn't happen overnight...


It's as if New Balance took a page right out of best selling authors Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff's book The Groundswell in identifying how connecting with the groundswell transforms your company.

#1 First, Start Small and that's exactly what New Balance did:
Back in 2007, New Balance was an early adopter of Social Media launching its brand new page on MySpace.

"We have slowly expanded into other social media platforms, taking a scalpel approach versus a shotgun approach, keeping a close eye on which platforms our consumers targets are using, how they're using them and the best way that New Balance can deliver value to them there,"  said Stacey Howe, head of global digital marketing brand management for New Balance Athletic Shoes.

Lace Up 365 / The fight doesn't stop in October. Let's make October last all year long through Lace Up 365: www.newbalance.com/laceup.

New Balance will contribute 5% of the suggested retail price of sales from the Lace Up for the CureĀ® collection with a guaranteed minimum donation of $500,000 each year to Susan G. Komen. Wear it proudly to show your support for the cause. / by New Balance#2 According to Li & Bernoff - Have a Vision and a Plan: 
"Now, the brand has a far more sophisticated social strategy centered on content that's a mix of humor and educational videos.  It's now spread across many social platforms 
- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest

And according to the Groundswell's principles of social media, here is where New Balance runs circles around the rest...


Cover Photo
New Balance

New Balance
676,108 likes · 28,270 talking about this · 7,748 were here





New Balance 
Verified account

@newbalance

Driving innovation to create superior products that athletes are proud to wear, our associates are proud to create and communities are proud to host. Join us.
Boston, MA · newbalance.com





















The Groundswell is ubiquitous. Technologies are exploding and cheap and they are easy to create and improve.  New Balance embraces and taps into the Groundswell and its MANY social media platforms by engaging their customers opinions and connecting with people who naturally want to connect.


In this video, New Balance engages their customers and 
takes to YouTube with
 

The New Balance Strategy -

Howe says there are four primary rules to New Balance's social strategy:

1.  First, introduce people to the right product.  New Balance does this by talking about more than just the shoe's features.  It's product posts tell people what the shoe can do for them.




2. Next, New Balance provides tools, information, inspiration and 
encouragement and tells fans that they too could achieve their goals.                                                                                                                          

3. The third, is that New Balance empowers customers to help each other.  A tweet from January 13th is in support of the SusanGKomen Foundation and meant to connect runners to each other.  

   


RT : Help us support the fight all year by sharing your survivor story:


4. Finally, New Balance is about celebrating achievements.




Retweeted by 
athlete wins CRUSHING the 1:17 course record in a time of 1:11.49!!


Always Moving Forward ~ New Balance has shifted how it handles social media.  The digital marketing team leads the effort but the responsibility is now shared across multiple areas within the organization including brand marketing, corporate social responsibility, public relations, customer service  as well as contributions from employees.   

Most importantly, New Balance social media runs to the front of the pack thanks to you the Groundswell...




2 comments:

  1. New Balance is quite a company. I never realized how involved they were with social media. Great to have such a local company doing such great things.

    ReplyDelete
  2. New Balance is a fantastic local company, thanks so much for your comments.

    ReplyDelete