Context

At the time, New Balance marketing was heavily product-led and functional. Awareness was high, but brand effectiveness data showed a clear gap in consideration. Consumers knew the brand, but didn’t feel an emotional connection or understand what it stood for. Internally, regions were telling different stories and the brand lacked a unifying idea people could rally around.

Approach

I helped lead the brand from product marketing to emotion-led storytelling by launching “My Future Self,” New Balance’s first platform designed to connect at a human level. The idea focused on progress, ambition, and who you’re becoming, not just performance outcomes. We built the work around real athlete stories with genuine tension, then created a simple framework so regions could tell their own local versions without losing consistency. To reach people in places they already trusted, we partnered with The Players’ Tribune, Vice, and Barstool. We also connected storytelling directly to commerce and participation, including inspire-to-buy content and a letter-writing activation where consumers wrote messages to their future selves, which were mailed back to them a year later.

Results

“My Future Self” became the most-watched campaign in New Balance history, generating more than 40 million views globally. Brand consideration increased 28 percent, new consumer traffic grew 83 percent, and purchase intent and brand favorability rose more than 40 percent. Hero products featured in the stories exceeded forecasts, clearly linking emotional brand storytelling to commercial impact.

Learnings

Emotion builds consideration. When a performance brand moves beyond product features and tells honest human stories, people start choosing it, not just recognizing it.

Agency Partner ACE Content