110-year old brand ‘New Balance’; how do they convey this in China?
One hundred years of solitude, the rise and fall of a century. . . We often use some grayish words to describe the longevity of a thing for a whole century but a more than one-hundred-year old brand, does it keep it original? Is it still popular?
Born in 1906 in Boston; New Balance, in 2016, celebrated its 110 birthday. New Balance held its 110th anniversary with classic, commemorative shoes made available. These were based on the New Balance ‘990’ running shoes which were produced 1982. On April 22 to mark the anniversary the new US-made 990V4 was introduced, New Balance invited the legendary American designer Terry Heckler, Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and Chinese musical godfather Jonathan Lee to collaborate on this marketing project.
New Balance X Terry Heckler: we do things by numbers.
As a designer for New Balance as well as the Starbucks mermaid logo, the famous American artist and designer ‘Terry Heckler’, told a story of New Balance and numbers in a recent short film. It’s about NB using numbers to name the product. Terry Heckler explained this in one sentence: “When everyone is racking their brains to find the coolest name, New Balance can tell people that what we do is the coolest thing just by using numbers.”
New Balance X Ryuichi Sakamoto（Banben Longyi): I just want to be the one
Ryuichi Sakamoto collaborated by providing an original score for the marketing content. It is difficult to use a few words to label him: a musician, a composer, a producer, an actor and an environmental activist. He quit his classical music lessons and plunged into avant-garde music without hesitation; his film and music won the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe, and he also wrote plenty of advertising music. However, he was in love with “one”, his concept of individuality.
There is a “one”(一） in his name, the “one” is not meant to be the “first”, but to be the “only.” Ryuichi Sakamoto did not want to be puzzled by outside comments and the external form, he wants to stick to “only one “, ” I don’t want to imitate others, I just want to be unique, to be unique.” Ryuichi Sakamoto’s persistence to “only one” conveys the new Balance brand’s constant concentration and individual creation.
New Balance X Jonathan Lee: Every step counts
The male lead in “Heart and Hands”: Jonathan Lee wrote their original story for the 110th-anniversary celebration of the New Balance brand: two different lives expressed by pen and knife: every step counts.
58-year-old Jonathan Lee is a Chinese musical godfather as well as a luthier. In the ”life of pen and knife”, he is quiet but persistent; persevering, and creative. He sticks to the numbers. Every major choice in his life, it’s seemingly ground-breaking but is natural. After going through ups and downs, he thinks that every step counts.
It is reported that this short video is only a preview; the feature film will be met with the audience in May 2016. During this period, Jonathan Lee went to Taipei, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and other places to reflect upon those people, cities and those memories dealt with in the short film.
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