New Balance is a good example of a brand driven by a customer-focused purpose and core values. They built a business aiming to inspire people and help them achieve their goals, and their core values are teamwork, integrity, and total customer satisfaction.
Using their products’ ads to convey their values or be transparent about the production on their website is how the brand expresses its engagements.
The latest ad where we can notice the value of New Balance is the collaboration they did with Jaden Smith and his eco-friendly shoes. Thanks to that, they inspire their younger customers looking after the artist or the brand, or both to take action regarding global warming and all the issues related to the preservation of the environment.
Their engagement towards the environment isn’t new, one of their first eco-friendly shoes was launched in 2009. Not only were the materials used were environmentally preferred, but construction and manufacturing process were as well.
Nowadays, the brand’s actions regarding the environment are registered on their website, showing transparency and the example to their customers. By joining coalitions (Sustainable Apparel Coalition or ZERO Hazardous Chemical Landfills), reinforcing their respect of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act and actual actions (for example, river cleaning), the brand justifies quality, engagement, and initiates movement.
Taking action for the environment is not the only engagement coming from the brand. New Balance “moves forward” to giving back to the population. The brand is doing good and wants its customers to do good as well. Through grants, volunteering, cooperative marketing, sponsorships, in-kind donations, New Balance, and New Balance Foundation aim to improve the health and well-being of families worldwide. For example, with the movement 1 for you 1 for youth, New Balance and New York Road Runners donate a pair of shoes to a New York Road Runners supported youth program when a pair of shoes is bought at the NYRR Run center.
But what would be the brand without all its collaborators and employees? Nothing. That is why its third engagement is to encourage everyone to “move forward” together. Human Rights have a huge place in the company, and the brand encourages people to make their voices heard, earn a fair wage, and work in a safe and healthy environment. Through surveys, New Balance workers are empowered to voice confidentially in the workplace.
For example, in a factory in China, the factory management believed that everyone understood the production targets but actually, only 29% of the workers did. The factory management took immediate action to help them to clarify the subject, and the workplace relations on the production floor improved.
Being one of the bests sportswear brands on the market is important for New Balance, but the brand does not forget to give back and act to improve society. Using the brand image to inspire movement impacts both at a big and small level.
References
(2013), New Balance’s Purpose is to Inspire Movement, MDH Mark D Hogan. Retrieved from https://markdhogan.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/new-balances-purpose-is-to-inspire-movement/
Gina Roos (2009), New Balance Launches Eco-Friendly Shoe Collection, Environment + energy leader. Retrieved from https://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/07/new-balance-launches-eco-friendly-shoe-collection/
Environmental sustainability, moving the environment forward. Retrieved from https://www.newbalance.fr/en/inside-nb-environment.html
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