New Balance campaign promises rewards come to those who run
As the new year begins in earnest and the British public indulges its annual desire to get fit, New Balance is launching a campaign to inspire runners to ‘Runlock’ the benefits of running.
The campaign avoids the usual aspirational if potentially unrealistic imagery around running / Mullenlowe
The campaign (which is also live across Germany and France) builds upon research and anecdotal evidence that running delivers mental as well as physical well-being to those who keep at it.
As a result, Mediahub, MullenLowe and New Balance have launched ‘Rewards Come to Those Who Run’, a targeted campaign designed to inspire runners of all abilities.
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The creative is set to run across DOOH in addition to display and social ads. It 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.
Claire Hollands, managing director at MullenLowe, said that 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 do something different. We wanted to encourage and empower everyone to run. It’s one of the most accessible sports and has phenomenal physical and mental benefits. The core purpose of this campaign is to get more people experiencing them.”
The campaign builds upon the central conceit with a Strava partnership and the launch of the ‘30 km in 30 days challenge’ with runners challenged to run 30 km in 30 days to unlock a variety of prizes.
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The Europe-wide campaign was teased by contemporary culture brand Hypebeast in the run-up to its launch. Given New Balance’s position in the market, the campaign has also been designed to maintain that level of curiosity down from first engagement to purchase.
Suri Patel, client partner at Mediahub, added: “In activating ‘Runlock’, we are seeking out runners of all types. Reaching into the physical and digital worlds where they discover running and the platforms that make it a habit. Tapping into authentic everyday runners across Europe in the real world and through Strava, a platform that connects them all.
“Regular or reluctant – running 30k in 30 days is very doable. So it’s a great time to run to unlock the rewards of running with New Balance.”