How New Balance Went From “Dad Shoe” To Everyone’s Shoe
Think of your favourite shoes. What comes to mind? A pair of rock n’ roll Converse All Star’s? Maybe a sporty pair of white shoes with three black stripes down the side, or better yet, traces of Stan Smith green on the back heel and tongue. The tracks left in the sand by a California cool pair of waffle board Vans, the perfect footgear to nail a kick-flip, especially in checkerboard print. Then there’s the shoe that kick-started sneaker culture on basketball courts around America: Nike’s Air Force One’s, which gave birth to the Air Jordan brand. Reebok Pumps offered inflatable comfort, giving the wearer a custom fit, while looking stylish.
These shoes hold a place in fashion history, but only one unmentioned company is fiercely dedicated to putting function ahead of form, evident in their famous 993. This company doesn’t give their shoes cool names, focusing on quality instead. Until recently, you might have sneered at these shoes, but your dad certainly didn’t. I’m talking about the New Balance 990, also known as “The Dad Shoe.”
When Apple pulled audiences into their keynotes to see Steve Jobs present the next big thing in tech, he was always in costume dad attire: black turtle-neck, light blue jeans, and a pair of New Balance. Function over form. If you watch Curb your Enthusiasm, look at Larry David’s feet and you’ll find a pair of wide-fit New Balance matching his usual suit jacket and corduroy pant outfit. If you need an example closer to home, raid your dad’s closet. For most of their existence, New Balance has been happy to support the soles of dads around the world, often priding themselves for doing so.
New Balance opened for business 110 years ago in Boston, Massachusetts. Their mission is putting the body in motion with the most advanced footwear technology on the planet, whether it’s an athletes bod, or a dad bod. New Balance refuses to sacrifice quality for the sake of affordability and that’s why they have factories in Boston, Maine, and the United Kingdom. They believe the highest quality sneakers are made in America, and although this inflates price-tags, customers can feel the quality build of New Balance shoes.
New Balance is always pushing to add more technology to their sneakers (maybe that’s why Jobs loved them). Absorbing rubber and cushioning, a “SureLace” cord blend to keep shoes tied as you jog, and Gore-Tex lining to prevent water damage can be found in any New balance model, all of which is music to every dad’s ears.
The company held out on big name endorsement deals, preferring to represent the everyman. The “Endorsed By No One” approach had New Balance running ads targeting their core market: elders. Nothing sells sneakers quite like a pair of geriatric hipsters with canes dawning blue NBs. New Balance used a number system for their shoes to generate love for the brand as a whole, not a single pair of shoes. This “alternative” shoe company identity wasn’t working well for New Balance and they eventually caved to enter the basketball world. New Balance signed James Worthy to a $1 Million endorsement deal, with a PR campaign centred around the pun: “Trust-Worthy,” fitting in with the reliability of New Balance sneakers. Unfortunately, James Worthy got busted soliciting prostitutes shortly after penning the endorsement. Untrustworthy to say the least.
New Balance owner Jim Davis believed the company shouldn’t pay athletes ridiculous sums of money to sport their shoes. However, the under 40 market became enticing to New Balance. Enter Mark Cavanaugh in 2009, a former Nike executive stepping on board to head New Balance’s marketing department. Cavanaugh knew he couldn’t reach the under 40 market without the help of influential athletes. Brands like Under Armour were flooding the market and gaining traction with a young teenage crowd, who had no interest in their dad’s New Balance shoes.
In spring 2009, Cavanaugh devised a plan to help New Balance break into the baseball market. Cavanaugh constructed endorsement deals with charity components, where New Balance donated money to an athlete’s charity, while the athlete gave New Balance time and attention. Cavanaugh managed to get New Balance on the feet of 380 players, with 30% being paid cash, 50% getting free shoes and merchandise, and 20% wearing shoes for free.
Cavanaugh praises the “hedgehog” model in Jim Collins’ book “Good To Great.” This is a three prong strategy embraced by New Balance:
What are you deeply passionate about?
What can you be the best in the world at?
What drives your economic engine?
Cavanaugh understood New Balance couldn’t win the basketball market (yet) and didn’t have the money for NFL fields. The company offered a good line of baseball shoes, and entry into the MLB was affordable, so New balance went all in. After their MLB success, New Balance went on to sponsor athletes in other major leagues.
How did New Balance get to their 2020 status?
With models sporting the shoes on runways and an NBA takeover in the works, New Balance is far away from their “Dad shoe” image. The brand perception fully changed with the endorsement of under the radar NBA star Kawhi Leonard, who signed a one year deal in Toronto for the 2018–2019 season. This posed some problems for a brand that prides themselves on offering all-American shoes, when their top NBA endorsement signs a deal north of the border.
To help develop the dad brand into a basketball-lifestyle brand, New Balance enlisted the help of APEX Public Relations in Toronto. This was a big task for the PR company. Not only did they have to change New Balance’s North American brand image, but they also had to give the company a foothold in the competitive NBA, all while using Kawhi Leonard as a spokesperson.
If you know anything about Kawhi, and not many people do, he doesn’t like to talk, but New Balance and Leonard seemed to be a perfect match. Linking back to my previous article on values, Leonard and New Balance share a similar mentality. Leonard is quiet and lets his consistent, honest, and focused game do the talking, while New Balance lets the consistent quality of their shoes define them.
APEX didn’t have a basketball superstar like Nike’s Lebron James, so they had to work with the dismal media quotes Kawhi gave them. On his first media day in Toronto, a reporter asked Kawhi to talk about himself, to which Kawhi responded “I’m a Fun Guy.” Then some info leaked about Kawhi’s college trash talk game, where he would frequently use the quote: “Board Man Gets Paid.” APEX took these two quotes and ran with them, printing and selling New Balance t-shirts with the words plastered on the chest.
Kawhi needed to wear New Balance constantly. Since social media is popular with the under 40 audience, it’s important Kawhi was seen rocking New Balance in his everyday life to show the brand is just as good off the court.
Of course timing is everything. It helped APEX and New Balance that the Toronto Raptors went on a championship run, getting Kawhi, the team, and New Balance national coverage. Leonard became the symbol of the Raptors success, and a fan favourite, especially after hitting a buzzer beater shot in game seven to send the Raptors to the conference finals. Since New Balance was all over Kawhi Leonard, they built an emotional connection with Raptors fans, and basketball fans were catching on to the style of the superstar. Forming an emotional connection can give you a lifetime of customers, and New Balance found that in Toronto.
With the help of APEX, cheeky new ads, and a basketball superstar who now plays in the heart of Los Angeles, New Balance made their footprint on the NBA landscape. The big win is changing the perception of their brand through an endorsement of an influencer whose values lined up with what they believed in. Combine this with excellent timing, and New Balance jumped from “Dad shoe” to “Everyone’s shoe.” Now the goal is run with this momentum and keep building their younger market by offering new shoes while staying true to the New Balance value of function over form.
It’s a great case study for PR and Marketing executives who believe shifting brand perception is impossible without years of work and a change of values. While it does have plenty to do with luck, it’s also about giving your company the opportunity to catch lightning in a bottle.
