How New Balance re-imagined its sales platform for a new generation of trade buyers
Nteractive won at The Drum Awards for Experience, taking home the award for best B2B Experience 2022 for its work on the New Balance Storybook. Here, we find out more about what went into this successful project.
New Balance Storybook
New Balance turned ot Nteractive to shake up its approach to trade sales.
The brief
Buying cycles across the footwear and apparel sector have been falling out of sync with the annual sales meeting format for some time. For New Balance, the effects of this divergence were compounded by differences in regional buying around the world, regional channel nuances, and expanding product-launch windows.
While New Balance acknowledged that the annual sales meeting – the “single moment in time” model – was no longer fit for purpose, it still needed a global launch platform for new season collections, new products and supporting marketing stories.
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New Balance asked the agency to reimagine its flagship sales platform for a new generation of trade buyers, moving from a “single moment in time” annual sales meeting to a solution that could adapt quickly and easily to buyers’ needs and marketplace shifts. It was essential that all parties could still exchange stories and insights, even if this wasn’t an in-person experience.
The idea
Nteractive created New Balance Storybook, a digital hub at the centre of the New Balance sales ecosystem with consistent product storytelling at its core. Content can be updated quickly so regional partners and retailers discover new product stories fast.
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A seasonal playbook platform, Storybook encapsulates new products, the brand and its business direction. It includes curated presentations punctuated by senior leadership team interview videos, insights from product and marketing experts, and a downloadable “kit of parts” enabling regional teams to create approved story experiences in their own spaces.
Through site analytics, the brand can track which story or product detail is attracting attention and which assets are downloaded most frequently by marketers, retailers and product specialists. This intelligence informs future content strategies.
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The results
Revenue grew by more than 30% in 2021, and regional teams report ongoing positive sales and brand perception results. Retail accounts and their buyers see New Balance Storybook as the industry pacesetter, ranking it the highest-impact presentation across all categories compared with competitor brands.
This campaign was a winner at The Drum Awards for Experience in 2022. The Drum Awards for Marketing are currently open for entry. Find out how you can enter now.