New Balance launches UK New Year running campaign

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jan 16, 2023

Getting people to take up a fitness regime after December excesses is a theme being picked up by sportswear brands, and New Balance is among them.

However, the trainer brand is taking a different promotional route. Launching a UK campaign to inspire runners to ‘Runlock’ the benefits of running, it has chosen a path that avoids the usual upbeat, inspirational message linked to promoting running. And it’s offering prizes as an incentive to achieve consumer goals.

The campaign also builds on research and anecdotal evidence that running delivers mental as well as physical well-being to those who maintain a training regimen.

So ‘Rewards Come to Those Who Run’ is a targeted campaign designed to inspire runners of all abilities.

It will run across out-of-home, display and social advertising and features New Balance-branded lockers, “designed to create curiosity among viewers as to which of those mental and physical rewards can be gained through running”.

The campaign builds upon the central concept via a partnership with online tracker app Strava, and the launch of the ‘30km in 30 days challenge’ with runners signing up to run 30km in a month to unlock a variety of prizes.

Claire Hollands, MD at MullenLowe, the campaign’s ad agency, told The Drum: “The campaign is a rarity – one that speaks to the experience of all runners, not just the professionals.

“So often sports campaigns are about performance. We see people running up mountains or scaling buildings – even though this isn’t a reality for most of us. With this campaign, we wanted to encourage and empower everyone to run. It’s one of the most accessible sports and has phenomenal physical and mental benefits.”