New Balance was not a desired brand amongst young Singaporeans. As a supplier of running shoes for the National Service programme, the brand was perceived and stigmatised as out of date and unexciting. The objective was to reverse this and attract a young and hip crowd to the brand. To do this, our strategy suggested New Balance engage with consumers in a forum favoured by our target audience. The solution was to create a community-driven campaign. The advertising demonstrated the “cool” factor of New Balance as a dynamic international brand.

We created a Facebook application built around Love/Hate – the two conflicting compulsions felt by runners. Users voted whether they Love/Hate running. With every Love vote, the New Balance world icon on the application went faster and became brighter. The opposite was true for Hate. A built in email component allowed viewers to further drive engagement by sending out personalised Love/Hate mail templates to their contacts, rallying even more new votes. Throughout the site, the interactive seeding of the New Balance range was central to maximise brand interaction.

Results – within two weeks 26,846 votes were cast. 39% of active application users interacted with the Love/Hate campaign. The effective acquisition mechanic received a successful 28% response rate.