New Balance Athletes Are Their Own Worst Enemies in First Post-Arnold Campaign

By Patrick Coffee 

Last month we reported that sneaker giant New Balance would end its relationship with global agency of record Arnold Worldwide after six years. Company reps unsurprisingly told us that it did so in the interest of consolidation, “evaluating our future agency structure and reviewing our portfolio.”

One of the agencies New Balance added to its roster last year was London’s BMB, and that shop created its newest global ad, “You Are Your Toughest Opponent.”

There’s a bit more of that signature British self-loathing in this anthem spot than in Arnold’s work.

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The campaign also has a homepage featuring each of the athletes in that anthem and a shorter profile video for each. Joe Root’s little film is interesting primarily because we had never even considered a batting cage for cricket players.

Based on the client’s past statements, it doesn’t seem that BMB will become its official agency of record. But New Balance does plan to focus more specifically on its international marketing moving forward, so we have to believe we’ll see more work out of London for future campaigns.

On a completely unrelated side note, we love how the error page on the company’s website chose to quote the iconic copywriter Bugs Bunny.

new balance

CREDITS

Agency: Beattie McGuinness Bungay
Creative Director / ECD Ben Lunt/Matt Waller
Art Director Jenny Piggott
Copywriter Harry Boothman
Business Director Owen Farrington
Account Director Farah Winning
Planner Jamie Inman
Agency Producer Gill Loftus / Catharine Griffiths
Director/ Production Co Stella Scott & Lewis Metcalfe / Archer’s Mark
Producer Selena Cunningham
Editor Ben Canny / Stella Scott
Post Production Archer’s Mark
Sound Design Archer’s Mark
Typographer Sam Kallen
DoP Luke Jacobs

*We know Arnold is working on the business until June, but that doesn’t make for a very good headline.

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