Source: New Balance Hombre 500v1 in Gris Marrón
Last week I discussed Nike’s acquisition of Datalogue:
Características New balance Calças Curtas Relentless 8 Fitted
While this isn’t exactly a similar tech move by NB, it does show how brands are finding new ways to engage a diverse marketplace, but as a brand like Under Armour divests itself of sports league sponsorships, is New Balance making a smart play?
To tackle this, a few things have to be discussed. I’ll try to keep this short and hopefully spark a bit of dialogue. I’ve discussed sport viewership as it relates to the U.S. I’ve also made posts analyzing viewership of the Premier League. This is my first time looking at Serie A, but a few similarities are available. New Balance has been making a push with cleated footwear in baseball and soccer for a few years. One of my primary points of discussion for growth is to hit the niche, so NB is making a logical play.
What I’m looking at here is how effective will it be for NB to use social media for a sport that isn’t exactly firing up teens who might utilize an AR Filter for IG. Social media platforms can be divided by demographics and IG, while not the home base of youth culture with TikTok on the rise, the site still has about 72% of teens according to Omnicore data. This is important for a few reasons, but is a bit complex to breakdown.
New Balance can only hit niche areas in the US, although they have produced some of the best footwear of any brand in the last few years. Their collabs have been amazing, but the numbers in sales on those products are ultimately a marketing strategy. The brand hasn’t captured considerable shelf space here in the states. This means in order for the company to attain growth, they will have to capture market share in the international market, which does have considerable opportunities, but adidas has a foothold.
Signing AS Roma, doesn’t help in the U.S. It does deliver the chance to capture a share of the soccer market which isn’t exactly youth culture based. As a matter of fact according to Statista, Serie A viewership decreased from 2017 to 2018 from 272 million to 263 million. If viewership is declining, why are brands dropping boatloads of money into the sport? Puma added Neymar Jr. who plays for Paris Saint Germain, taking Neymar from Nike and Jordan… or did Nike allow Neymar to walk? PSG is sponsored by Jordan Brand. Ronaldo is signed to Juventus and is a hardcore Nike man. This leaves New Balance in a position where they have to make waves. AS Roma will be the first team in Serie A to allow NB. What does this have to do with the AR Filter, social media and viewership? It’s a chance to look at marketing strategies.
Why would NB lead with an AR Filter on IG to announce their signing of AS Roma? When I state that viewership is down, it implies that teens aren’t looking at soccer. Viewership of all sports are down. This is emblematic of where media is being consumed. Teens aren’t as engaged with sport as they were in the past, but that doesn’t mean that teens aren’t consuming sports in digital chunks. New Balance’s ‘tech’ announcement is a smart strategy to engage the consumer who is the hardest to reach when it comes to sports consumption (viewership and purchasing apparel). Right now, adidas remains the leader in this space haven’t launched entire leagues for Glitch games and building pitches in random locations to sponsor participation. It will be interesting to watch New Balance as it prepares to engage in warfare with the more popular brands in soccer.
What do you think about this?