New Balance Backs Comrades Marathon With SA Strand Of Global #MyFureSelf Initiative

New Balance’s global #MyFutureSelf idea, which is rolling out as the core concept of multiple campaigns around the world, fronts its activation of the sports apparel brand’s sponsorship of ‘The Comrades Marathon’.

Launched in early May to coincide with the official race launch at the 30-day countdown mark, New Balance’s work leveraging this gruelling 87km South African event – the world’s oldest and largest ultra-marathon and known as ‘the ultimate human race’ and run on 4 June – revolves around the idea of runners penning a letter to their future selves laying out their values, convictions, sacrifices and what is in store for them during Comrades 2017.

The aim behind this mechanic is that the campaign letters offer competitors inspiration by revealing who the individual participants are, what they want to become and what they would tell their future selves as they prepare for the final lap.

All entrants in the race are encouraged to write a letter to their future self via the campaign’s digital hub (at https://newbalance.co.za/my-future-self-comrades.php) and the brand will then email it back to them in a year so that ‘each runner can see how their experiences shaped their journey’.

Developed in harness with SA agency Levergy, the letter writing mechanic is promoted and incentivised through various inspirational campaign assets linked by the #myfutureself, #Comrades and #Comrades2017 hashtags.

These are spearheaded by a set of ordinary Comrades 2017 entrants (of varying abilities and spanning demographic segments) who tell their own stories through their letters which are turned into creative executions.

These include online videos such as ‘Men’

and ‘Women’.

as well as the digital hub and online spots, the initiative is also running across the brand’s social channels – such as Facebook,

and Twitter

#Comrades entrants reflect on their journey through a letter to their future self. Write yours here – https://t.co/iY73ytGKdS #myfutureself pic.twitter.com/oI45jZJSTw

— New Balance SA (@NewBalance_SA) May 5, 2017

#Comrades entrants reflect on their journey through a letter to their future self. Write yours here – https://t.co/iY73ytGKdS #myfutureself pic.twitter.com/6AwiTYfAZw

— New Balance SA (@NewBalance_SA) May 4, 2017

What would you tell your future self as you prepare for Comrades? Write your letter here – https://t.co/iY73ytGKdS #myfutureself #comrades pic.twitter.com/kHGA4KbLcT

— New Balance SA (@NewBalance_SA) May 4, 2017

Most content pieces encourage viewers and participants to ‘write your letter to your future self here’ and drive them online to https://newbalance.co.za/my-future-se…

The activation is further supported by additional New Balance race-specific product social and digital work,

Will you be running the @ComradesRace in the best in premium running performance? Official #Comrades2017 shoe available at @TotalsportsSA. pic.twitter.com/0pl3ue5Dyj

— New Balance SA (@NewBalance_SA) May 11, 2017

and a pre-race, brand hosted experiential Comrades evening event.

Join the NB #Comrades2017 Marathon evening presented by @LindseyParryZA for tips, prizes & 25% off the Comrades 1080’s. Seating is limited. pic.twitter.com/SIKOOQvQcr

— New Balance SA (@NewBalance_SA) May 17, 2017

Activative Comment:

The New Balance ‘Comrades’ campaign sits neatly in line with the brand’s recent global ‘My Future Self’ platform (created alongside global creative agency Zak) which was introduced into its marketing earlier in the month with the sportswear brand’s ECB launch campaign for its new England cricket kits (see case study).

Cricket South Africa and New Balance are also adopting a parallel ad approach, which, just like its England cricket counterpart campaign, also included a spearhead spot featuring cricketers penning a letter to their future selves for the launch of the new Proteas One Day International kit.

While other Comrades race sponsors include Old Mutual,

Win an entry to Comrades 2018 with @OldMutualSA 'World Of Endurance' and 'More Than Yourself'. Find Out More: https://t.co/rdRqPv7JNO pic.twitter.com/PvgnwBLzEd

— Comrades Marathon (@ComradesRace) May 5, 2017

The More Than Yourself initiative from @OldMutualSA gives you the opportunity to make a difference at #Comrades2017 https://t.co/5rs1orV5qn pic.twitter.com/GVr1Ag6x1K

— Comrades Marathon (@ComradesRace) May 2, 2017

Energade,

Hydration is sorted on the #Comrades2017 route. The official sports drink for the Comrades Marathon. Energade. It's What You Put In. pic.twitter.com/G2xk3tlV6f

— Comrades Marathon (@ComradesRace) May 8, 2017

FACT: Inchanga is one of the Big Five and is a tourist destination found along the Comrades Marathon route #TheUltimateHumanRace pic.twitter.com/CT07AWaGUV

— Energade (@EnergadeSA) May 8, 2017

Racefood,

45 refreshment stations along the 86.73km route will provide 21,000 @racefood honey nougat energy bars to #Comrades2017 runners pic.twitter.com/mYWWKldN5M

— Comrades Marathon (@ComradesRace) May 9, 2017

Toyota,

Getting ready for race day with the generous support of @ToyotaSA. Let's go places! #Comrades2017 pic.twitter.com/gmFVDfOyad

— Comrades Marathon (@ComradesRace) May 9, 2017

and Bonitas.

Tag a #running buddy with #RaceDay #tiptuesday
“SERIOUSLY if you start cramping DO NOT stop” Don’t stand still be #RaceReady @ComradesRace pic.twitter.com/Z2wwsStQEa

— BonitasRUN (@BonitasRUN) May 9, 2017

Links:

New Balance

http://www.newbalance.co.za/my-future-self-comrades.php

http://www.newbalance.co.za/

https://www.facebook.com/NewBalanceSouthAfrica

https://www.instagram.com/newbalanceza/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/109843395893335667339

https://twitter.com/NewBalance_SA

Comrades 2017

http://www.comrades.com/

https://twitter.com/ComradesRace

https://www.facebook.com/ComradesMarathon