New Balance Launches 'LOVE/hate. this is the new balance' Global Brand Campaign

New Balance Launches 'LOVE/hate. this is the new balance' Global Brand Campaign

Campaign Captures Athletes' Love/Hate Relationship With Running and Brand's Promise to Increase the Love

BOSTON, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Global athletic leader New Balance debuts a new brand campaign on March 27, 2008 that highlights running as fundamental to all sport and spotlights the runner's complex love/hate relationship with running. The campaign brings these struggles and personal breakthroughs to life by personifying running in a light-hearted and engaging manner and showcases the brand's ability to increase the love of running through product innovation.

"Running is our history and our reason for being," says Rob DeMartini, CEO at New Balance. "We believe our 'LOVE/hate. this is the new balance' campaign will strike an emotional chord with athletes. This campaign captures the complicated love/hate struggle of runners and shows how New Balance is dedicated to reducing the hate and growing the love of running through innovations in footwear, apparel and equipment."

The multi-media campaign utilizes television, print, and online advertising to reach performance athletes with a primary media target of 18-29 year olds. The full campaign tag line reads "LOVE/hate. this is the new balance."

"New Balance understands that being a better runner makes you a better athlete," says Christine Madigan, Director of Global Marketing and Brand Management at New Balance. "The LOVE/hate campaign is grounded in deep global consumer insights and inherent truths about the role of running in an athlete's life and how our products can help tip the balance towards love."

While the campaign emphasizes the brand's heritage in performance running, it also highlights New Balance's expansion into other team sports such as football and baseball. The campaign targets three different consumers -- the dedicated runner, the fitness runner and the competitive athlete -- all who have different motivations but a shared struggle with running.

The television campaign breaks nationally on March 27th in the U.S. during the NCAA basketball tournament on CBS and will have heavy emphasis in the March-May and August-September timeframe through Fox, cable and ESPN. The campaign includes five television spots that capture the essence of the runner's love/hate struggle.

The cornerstone of the campaign is the "Anthem" spot which introduces the complex love/hate relationship with running and presents New Balance as the brand that tips the balance in favor of love. The spot also introduces the brand's visual "red world" -- representative of the runner's struggle -- filled with temptations and obstacles at the start but with an end result of euphoric accomplishment and "love."

The other four television spots highlight how the innovations of specific brand products help alleviate relationship struggles related to different runners. "Party" and "Shower" acknowledge the social temptations and workout fatigue of a competitive athlete while "Rain" and "Park Bench" showcase the dedicated and fitness runner's love/hate struggle with the elements and their commitment, respectively.

The campaign expands into multiple print components that capture the love/hate struggle with running in relationship dialogue. Each ad relays how specific New Balance footwear and apparel products help tip the balance for athletes in their love/hate struggle with running. For example, in the "Running's Friend Rain" print ad, the copy highlights how the brand's Storm Striker Jacket can provide technical innovation to help a runner increase their love for running in the rain.

The print campaign appears in vertical running/sports national and regional magazines starting in March including Runner's World, Running Times, ESPN the Magazine and Running Network.

Online campaign initiatives include banner ads and rich interactive elements that communicate both brand and product messaging. Highlights include a homepage flash unit that allows visitors to enter the world of love and hate, while "Moments of Truth" demonstrates through animation that running gives all athletes the competitive advantage. The online media buy in the U.S. includes ESPN, SI.com, CBS Sports, active.com and Max Preps, among others. The brand's Web site http://www.newbalance.com/ will feature the new campaign starting on March 27th.

The brand campaign will be integrated into New Balance events and sponsorships including Major League Lacrosse, Komen Race for the Cure, Rock n' Roll Marathon Series and the Summer X Games, among others. Campaign imagery will also be showcased through point-of-purchase and product displays at New Balance stores and retailers.

The campaign launches in major international markets during the next 90 days including: Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Israel, South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

The brand campaign creative was developed by BBDO New York who was named New Balance's global creative agency of record in October 2007. BBDO New York leads a roster of agencies that also includes Atmosphere BBDO (digital marketing), and PhD (media buying and planning). Almighty of Boston, MA manages the NB.com creative.

New Balance, headquartered in Boston, MA has the following mission: Demonstrating responsible leadership, we build global brands that athletes are proud to wear, associates are proud to create and communities are proud to host. New Balance employs more than 2,800 people around the globe, and in 2007 reported worldwide sales of $1.63 billion. For more information please visit http://www.newbalance.com/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: New Balance

CONTACT: Amy Vreeland of New Balance, +1-617-746-2214,
amy.vreeland@newbalance.com

Web site:

http://www.newbalance.com/

-------
Profile: intent