Friday, April 11, 2008

New Balance ad




A colleague passed this along to me (thanks Emer). She was impressed that they found a way to express their brand in a way that feels very natural.

I like it. I prefer the Nike+ "I'm addicted" ad though.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think these ads fall into two categories, Paul.
The new Balance and Nike “addicted” are to me the triumph of technique over content.
Beautifully shot, utterly bogus, pretentious, self-indulgenta bollocks - hyperbole carried beyond the ludicrous and into the realm of nausea.
They are begging really good parody in the great Saturday Night Live tradition
These are bloody shoes, for God's sake, not the secret of eternal life.
More to the point, there is not competitive advantage in either; it couldn’t matter which brand name was at the end frame.
The revolution Nike ad to me has equally good technique, but does a better job of trying to own the category, suggesting that their brand has the world in thrall – which works because it is truer of them than anyone else – it’s a Coca Cola strategy
Of course, the margins on all these shoes are so criminally vast thanks to all that sweated labour that I guess they could run dog-shit commercials and still make money.
God, what an old fogey I am!

Paul Dervan said...

thanks Drayton. Clearly you're a fan:)

Having had a pair of both New Balance and Nike+ running shoes, I'd see the Nike+ as competitive advantage. At least for a certain group of customers. The link in with my ipod gave me a decent reason to choose them over New Balance, Asics etc.

Any ideas what they could / should do differently with the brief?