The holiday season is approaching. This is a critical moment for every company. As stores ramp up to deal with Black Friday, Cyber Monday and every holiday sale ever, New Balance is reeling over comments made against TPP. I’ve been writing about TPP and New Balance since last year. I was basically the only site covering the topic so I have a little backstory. I won’t go into that again because you can simply enter TPP into the search window above. What I know is that these little Instagram posts that don’t explicitly state New Balance’s position clearly are doing very little to offset the damage being done to the brand. We live in a time where people don’t read beyond the headlines and when they do, it’s the soundbite or catchphrase that is remembered. What works in this generation is video. Olivia Pope would tell New Balance to stop being a bitch baby.
Then after saying stop being a bitch baby, she would tell them to follow these steps.
- Immediately go to the Saco factory and video your multi-racial coalition of employees. Film them doing the real work inside of the factory.
- Combine that real work with footage from the signing of Boris Berian who was being sued by Nike and couldn’t afford to train. Take footage of Trayvon Bromell and show that you sponsor Black athletes.
- Show your support of athletes at US based marathons and explain explicitly that New Balance in no way is endorsing Presidential-elect Donald Trump or aligning itself with hate groups. Explain that the goal is to support manufacturing and job creation in the US and come up with a catchy slogan to represent New Balance and the strength of Americans. Something like, #theworkisimportant and end with the people in the video, well about ten of them saying “The work is important,” and close with New Balance athletes saying the statement as they participate in their sport.
- If you have David Ortiz, use David Ortiz, but don’t put out crappy little IG posts that aren’t specific in their distancing from Neo-Nazis.
New Balance needs Olivia Pope.
