New Balance - Strides Ahead with Social Media

The Evolution of New Balance & it's Social Media Strategy

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.

A Heritage Rich in Innovation

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.

#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...

Follow

New Balance

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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

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#3 The Ubiquitous Groundswell

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 Fresh Foam Naming Experiment

 

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.  
   

New Balance ‏@newbalance  Jan 13

RT @NBLaceUp: Help us support the fight all year by sharing your survivor story: http://ow.ly/sxEnA  @SusanGKomen pic.twitter.com/JfuN0XVqxN

4. Finally, New Balance is about celebrating achievements.

Retweeted by New Balance

New Balance Running ‏@NBRunning  Feb 23

#TeamNB athlete @Kimsmithnz wins #PrincessHalf @runDisney CRUSHING the 1:17 course record in a time of 1:11.49!! pic.twitter.com/FYbE7TQuI2

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...

SmartWater Makes a Splash with the Groundswell

Targeting the Internet: SmartWater Their Viral Campaign

I'm a big fan of SmartWater! http://enjoysmartwater.com/

I love the taste, look and so called "health" benefit it provides.

I'm  also am a big fan of Jennifer Aniston.

She's funny, pretty, successful and as a celebrity manages to keep a low key and healthy lifestyle.

Having said that, I don't always believe that celebrity endorsements make a difference.  But sometimes when you combine a good product like SmartWater with a well known and well liked A-lister like Aniston and then dive into the social media pool, it can make for a really big SPLASH.

According to Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff, authors of the Groundswell http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Groundswell-Charlene-Li/dp/1422129802 

There are techniques for talking with the 

groundswell, some more effective than others.

#1 on that list - Post a viral video and that's exactly what Aniston & SmartWater did.  In doing so, they even "poked" fun at the notion of going viral and received OVER 5 Million hist on You Tube.

 "SmartWater and their Viral Campaign"

By: Sara Watson on March 10, 2011

http://blog.brightcove.com/en/2011/03/targeting-internet-smartwater-and-viral-campaigns

"Brands are starting to get on the social media bandwagon, and are tapping into the mores and modes of the Internet in an effort to update the way they reach and connect with consumers. " 

Take a look at SmartWater...
  

"Their latest campaign features Jennifer Aniston, along side of lip-synching You Tube star Keenan Cahill.  Aniston plays the "out of touch" average American over the age of "30" here with aplomb, hesitantly taking advice from her Geek chorus of geek advisors on how to make a video that "turns into a virus."  She provides the meta-commentary about what does well on the Internet."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByFxn98wkVQ

In going "viral",  another "Smart" thing that Aniston & SmartWater did was to know their Social Technographics Profile of their costumer:

#2. According to the Groundswell - Age makes all the difference, brands that appeal to customers ages thirteen to thirty-five MUST engage in social media & networks because their customers are already there... 

What is SmartWater & What Age Group Drinks It?

smartwater®

smartwater® is a premium, zero-calorie bottled water. Through vapor distillation and the addition of electrolytes (calcium, magnesium and potassium), it delivers a taste that is distinctly fresh, crisp and pure. Product Category Premium Water Brand Positioning This unique combination of vapor distillation and electrolytes result in a premium bottled water that delivers a taste that is distinctly fresh, crisp and pure. Target Audiences Ages 18-34, gender neutral, active, affluent, stylish and on the go. Features and Benefits Purity + electrolytes. Taste the difference. Smartwater is the #1 premium water in the United States. http://www.cokesolutions.com/OurProducts/Pages/Site%20Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?ItemID=358&L2=Enhanced+Water&ItemTitle=smartwater%C2%AE

https://www.google.com/search?q=smart+water+instagram&oq=smart+water+instagram&aqs=chrome..69i57.9003j0j4&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8

#3. According to the Groundswell - Companies  should use Social Networking sites to talk to their prospective customers, SmartWater does the Smart thing and dives into many social networking platforms...

Tweets All / No replies

1. smartwater ‏@smartwater  11h

   ever think of smartwater when you hit the “refresh” button?

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2. smartwater ‏@smartwater  Feb 18

   our bottle’s half empty today in memory of pluto the planet. #RIP

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3. smartwater ‏@smartwater  Feb 17

   this president's day, drink smartwater. it's not the official drink of presidents, but it should be. pic.twitter.com/VPBkb9fSPW

   
   

   

   
   

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   https://twitter.com/smartwater

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smart water

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  smart because it's made that way

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According to Coca Cola, parent company of SmartWater, 

Smartwater® is the #1 selling premium water brand

http://www.ohlerlaw.com/rs/filestore/1/1/7_65127a58dee58a4/117_e1ec95aba5df1ff.pdf

As a result of over 5 Million hits on her You Tube video and with the Smart use of many Social Media Platforms...

http://www.etonline.com/gallery/87364_Smart_Pics_Jennifer_Aniston_s_Secret_Revealed/index.html

Was SmartWater's "Viral" Video a Success?

http://www.theideabrand.com/2011/03/16/smartwater-viral-vide/

BECCA // March 16, 2011 // Advertising // Comments Off

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For decades, celebrities have been paid a fortune to promote a specific brand or product. It used to be plain and simple – a celebrity promotes a product, you go and buy that product. Now, not so much. Celebrities can’t just say a product is the best and expect you to purchase it. Consumers want to be entertained. To do this, some companies that currently use celebrities to endorse its brand are creating YouTube videos, all in hopes of making the video go viral.

Last week, a video Jen Aniston made for SmartWater launched. It was titled: Jennifer Aniston Goes Viral – SmartWater. While its true that you can’t force a video to go viral, SmartWater proves that you can combine many elements of other successful viral video with the intention of creating creative that is so good, your fans will spread it for you.

The video that SmartWater created shows Jen and her team of three guys coming up with “viral” ideas to help convince consumers that SmartWater is the “smartest, best tasting water that’s out there.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc47LcvIxyI]

In no time, it was an instant hit. In just one week alone, the SmartWater video has generated over seven million YouTube hits.

How did they do this? They did this by being systematic in their approach. They did their research on what would catch their target market’s attention. They couldn’t just create this video without a particular audience in mind. They needed people they knew would watch it and then share it. The most common videos that are shared via YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have one or all four for the following components:

1) It’s full of humor.

2) It has a good looking girl/guy.

3) It’s short, fast-paced and to the point.

4) It has music.

SmartWater incorporated all four of these components into this short three minute video. Some of the carefully crafted ways they incorporated these four components are:

• The dancing babies. We all remember the dancing baby aka Baby Cha-Cha from the Blockbuster commercials in the mid-nineties. This quickly became a huge internet phenomenon and was one of the first ever viral videos. Jen and her team then had the children dance provocatively all in the efforts to get more views. Sparking a conversation, especially a controversial one, is a great way to increase the number of views. Humor and music, check.

• The Double Rainbow Guy. He became a hit overnight. Sure, it helped he was featured on Tosh.O (a television show on Comedy Central that makes fun of people/ideas in internet video clips). They spoofed him as the parent of the dancing babies and encouraged him to drink SmartWater so he wouldn’t hallucinate those double rainbows anymore. Humor, check.

• In the closing of the video, they suggest naming the video “Jen Aniston Sex Tape.” This is smart for two reasons. At first I just though it was because sex sells. Then, I read an article in the New York Daily News and Shari Weiss made an excellent point – consumers will have a field day with this title, but so will the search engines. As of now, there are over 33 million search results for “Jen Aniston Sex Tape.” Hot girl and humor, check.

The overall concept behind this is great. It was interesting, funny, fresh and has definitely achieved SmartWater’s goal of wanting it to go viral. Its also sparked a lot of chatter about Jennifer Aniston, but what will this actually do for SmartWater’s brand? Will sales increase? I don’t think so. I have to disagree with Sara Marie Watson. She compares this to the Old Spice commercials,which so far has generated a 107% increase in sales of its body wash. The Old Spice videos show what the body wash will do for you. The SmartWater video doesn’t provide any information on what it can do for you.

What do you think? In the long run do you think this was a smart move for SmartWater and Jen Aniston?