08/07/2015

New Balance ‘Black Out Squad’ Blends Amateur Ambassadors & Pro Endorsers For Football Push

The summer New Balance is rolling out a major initiative (bridging from running to football) by cementing its ties with grassroots footballers in order to stand out from rival ‘hyperstylised’ brands led by its Blackout Squad’.

 

The approach to the new push is to blend posts from amateur players with content featuring professional stars with the aim of focus on the shared attributes of ‘natural skill’ and ‘hard work’

 

These are the brand traits that New Balance believes will give consumers (and football fans) a welcome alternative to what it labels the ‘hyperstylised’ approach from competitors such as Adidas, Nike and Under Armour.

 

The strategy began with a six-month tease, that emphasises ‘personal involvement’ and both  ‘amateur and professional player input’.

 

 

The main campaign thrust is the ‘Blackout Squad’ – a group of grassroots players from around the world that have been handpicked to receive exclusive access to boots and other products as if they were professional player.

 

From amateur player competitions to being chosen by pros, Black Out Squad members were recruited in different ways depending on their locality.

 

New Balance used this programme to give grassroots footballers a taste of what it’s like to be a professional player with access to prototype products.

 

The campaign was hubbed around a digital microsite at (http://www.newbalance.com/blackout-squad/) and led by a teaser, call-for-entry ‘Recruitment’ phase,

 

 

which then led to plenty of amateur player created entry submissions.

 

 

 

These consumer-created clips were followed by an official New Balance ‘Thanks For Entering’ phase,

 

 

and then a ‘Congratulations & Welcome’ strand of the campaign.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ6WuLbLmnQ

 

The next phase saw those chosen being encouraged to create their own content featuring the New Balance football products they were sent.

 

These could be anything from a boot review to a skills video.

 

The aim was to help them and grassroots players around the world to relate to the brand more.

 

 

 

The brand also used established social platforms such as Twitter (https://twitter.com/NBFootball) and Instagram (https://instagram.com/NBFootball) (which it has special football feeds on), as well as Facebook, to continue building awareness for the brand.

 

 

 

 

As the project evolves, New Balance plans will use its Blackout Squad members to push and promote across other channels – from Snapchat to Periscope – in order to reach more influencers.

 

New Balance aims to cut through in this crowded football space by focusing on showing its Blackout Squad amateur and professional brand ambassadors in environments where they’re training.

 

It hopes that this tactic will drive more fan engagement around the content beyond simple shares – with fans being more likely to create and share some form of their own content off the back of a New Balance video or a picture if they see their favourite stars and/or their peers in more normal, believable settings.

 

An example of the strategy rolled out in June and July when New Balance plunged full-on into the ultra competitive football space with the launch of its first boot range collection – the Visaro (for players who ‘Make Chances’) and the Furon (for players who ‘Take Chances’).

 

The brand invited Black Out Squad members and football influencers to Liverpool to come and use Go Pro camera kits it provided to film themselves using its new boots.

 

 

They produced their own content off the back of the event, which the brand was then able to amplify through its own channels including those professional players it pays.

 

 

Unsurprisingly, star player ambassadors are also involved in the new campaign,

 

 

– such as Sami Nasri,

 

 

 

and Alvaro Negredo.

 

 

The campaign was developed in partnership with agency Zak.

 

‘These are grassroots players from all over the world from age 13 to 20 years old who now get a package every month with free gear,’ explains Zak co-founder and chief creative officer Matt Bennett

 

‘We want to show how the brand recognises those fans who work hard and aspire to be a football player without showing them that it’s something they can’t achieve because we’ve given our professional players superhuman traits in our creative.’

 

Initially the main focus of the project was to drive awareness and saliency – to help consumers and amateur players understand what New Balance is about and why it is different.

 

‘The Blackout Squad has a slightly younger target audience than our main work so we may look at Snapchat [for it] but when it comes to promoting the boots then it’s more about the established proprietary channels that have the biggest followings,’ adds Bennett.

 

The football range is now being integrated into the overall brand through campaigns such as ‘The Storm’ which runs with the fresh ‘Always In Beta’ positioning tagline and includes both new football-focused spots,

 

 

as well as matching commercials in its other sports subsectors such as running,

 

 

baseball,

 

 

and tennis.

 

 

Comment

 

This unusually long teaser campaign phase is described internally as an ‘acceptance phase’ as New Balance aims to establish a solid foothold in the football space.

 

It aimed to build desire through compelling content before the products were on sale so that consumers felt like they couldn’t wait to get their hands on the products rather than simply making a considered, competitive choice.

 

The launch of the football boots starts in earnest as part of the company’s plan to become the third biggest football brand in the word.

 

It works in tandem with other strategic strands such as its key kit deals with football clubs such as Liverpool,

 

 

Porto,

 

 

Celtic,

 

 

and Seville.

 

 

Plus with national teams such as Panama.

 

 

Currently football generates a fairly small portion of New Balance’s $3.3bn annual revenue and this represents a major push to build its presence in the sport (and to link that additional football exposure to support its other product categories).

 

The New Balance campaign coincides with something of a landscape change in the football market – also illustrated with Adidas’ significant overhaul of its strategic approach to the sport which aims to appeal to contemporary street players.

 

Indeed, with New Balance splitting its boot range into two, there are real similarities between the recent ‘Be The Difference’ range revamp at Adidas (which also features two boots – one for ‘play makers’ and one for ‘game changers’).

 

Which could clearly be seen as a problem to the New balance initiative that aims to clearly differentiate from rivals such as Adidas.

 

Links:

 

New Balance Black Out Squad Website:

http://www.newbalance.com/blackout-squad/

 

New Balance Football Twitter:

https://twitter.com/NBFootball

 

New Balance Football Instagram:

https://instagram.com/NBFootball

 

New Balance Website:

http://www.newbalance.com/

 

New Balance Google+:

https://plus.google.com/110229214260563561389

 

New Balance Twitter:

@newbalance

 

New Balance Instagram:

https://instagram.com/newbalance/

 

New Balance Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Newbalance



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