World Premiere of the TRACK at New Balance

New Balance wanted to introduce The TRACK at New Balance, its new multi-purpose athletic facility in Boston, a city with deep roots in sports, to a global audience. New Balance sought to transform the new facility’s opening from a localized event engaging about 1,000 fans to a must-watch live digital experience reaching millions of viewers worldwide. This experience intended to position The TRACK at New Balance as a best-in-class venue that would continue to add to Boston’s sports legacy, starting with an event that represents the intersection of sports and culture. Newly appointed New Balance ambassador Jack Harlow was selected as the performer.

New Balance used immersive storytelling to showcase The TRACK at New Balance’s state-of-the-art features with a hybrid launch event that invited fans into the facility to experience a one-of-a-kind concert with exclusive press and fan touchpoints throughout the facility that highlighted the track and training/testing facilities throughout the venue. Millions of fans tuned in from home to watch Jack Harlow’s performance and appearances by sports influencers including Gabby Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin.

First Tube built awareness and drove attendance using social posts from brand and artist channels encouraging users to sign up for the tickets sweepstakes and RSVP for the concert. New Balance and talent-owned channels live streamed the performance with paid amplification. Dynamic content including footage shot from a variety of angles captured the high energy onsite critical to New Balance’s brand. Post-event, the full show and highlights were shared on the New Balance Digital hub, brand and talent channels driven by paid and earned media distribution across music blogs and social accounts.

The premiere campaign of The TRACK at New Balance generated 22.8 million impressions (29% above goal) and 18.3 million video views (172% above goal). The program drove an average watch time of nearly 8 minutes on New Balance’s YouTube channel and 598 million seconds of content watched, equivalent to over 19.9 million 30-second commercials (125% above goal). The immersive concert experience established New Balance as a sports and culture authority to fans worldwide.