New Balance triples ad spending, launches new campaign
New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. of Boston is launching a new ad campaign with the theme of "LOVE/hate. this is the new balance."
The campaign is part of a larger plan to nearly double its athletic shoe and apparel sales, in part by tripling the company's spending on marketing.
A TV ad set to debut Thursday during the NCAA college basketball tournament shows a young man walking by a house where a boisterous party is in progress; the young man, a basketball player, is tempted to join the party but takes a pass so he can stick to a training regimen that includes lots of running.
"What has running given you?" a voice-over asks, then answers, "An extra half step in overtime."
The sub-text of the ad is that running makes someone a better athlete, yet many young athletes have a love-hate relationship with running.
One point of the ad campaign, which was created by the company's new ad agency BBDO New York, is to show that New Balance is dedicated to reducing the hate and growing the love of running.
The new campaign launches as New Balance seeks to attain the long-term goal of ringing up $3 billion in global sales by 2012; global sales were $1.63 billion in 2007, up from $1.55 billion in 2006 and $1.54 billion in 2005, a New Balance spokeswoman said.
If New Balance is to break out of its recent pattern of modest sales gains and jump-start more explosive growth, it needs to reach beyond its loyal customer base of serious runners over 30 who are more focused on an athletic shoe's functionality than its fashion appeal.
The new multimedia ad campaign, which also includes print and online ads, looks to broaden New Balance's appeal beyond this group of core customers, and it generally aims at consumers between 18 and 29 who are more casual about jogging than a dedicated runner.
This younger group tends to see running as a means to an end, the end being improved performance in specific sports such as basketball or football.
New Balance declined to disclose the size of its budget for the love-hate campaign.
Advertising Age, in a story this morning, cited an estimate by TNS Media Intelligence that pegged New Balance's 2007 spending on US advertising media at just under $20 million.
Achieving $3 billion in global sales within the next few years is an ambitious goal, and the athletic-shoe category's dominant player, Nike Inc. of Oregon, is showing few signs of slowing down.
"Nike just had a blockbuster quarter," said Bob McGee, editor of Sporting Goods Intelligence, a newsletter that follows the industry.
This week, McGee reported that New Balance shifted responsibilities for executive vice presidents Paul Heffernan and Joe Preston to "bring a stronger global focus to the brand's product and marketing development as the company works toward its global sales objective of $3 billion by 2012."
Earlier this month, Reebok International Ltd. of Canton, a unit of Adidas Group, said it was naming Uli Becker, its chief marketing officer, as its president and chief executive.
Becker's challenge? Refocus Reebok's scattered brand identity and boost stalled sales.
When it comes to advertising, Nike and Reebok have often used high-profile athletes such as Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson to push their products.
New Balance, which once emphasized a philosophy of "Endorsed by no one," doesn't use high-profile athletes in its advertising.
Themes for previous New Balance ad campaigns include "For love or money?", "N is for fit ... N is for performance," and "Achieve New Balance."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
