How Can New Balance Fix Things?

The sneaker company New Balance found itself in an unusual place conscripted unwillingly into the alt-right movement after the victory of Donald Trump in the election. Last month, the companys vice president of public affairs, made pro-Trump comments to the Wall Street Journal , saying, The Obama administration turned a deaf ear to us and frankly, with President-elect Trump, we feel things are going to move in the right direction. He was referring to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement understandable since the deal would lower tariffs on foreign-made goods at a time when New Balance makes 70% of its footwear in the U.S. The problem? Daily Storm, an alt-right website associated with white supremacy, complimented the company, stating: New Balance just became the official shoes of white people.

It is, of course, entirely unfair when you look at New Balances 100-year history and admirable labor record, with factories located in rust-belt areas like Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Norridgewock, Maine. I was recently interviewed on the Price of Business radio show about New Balance which got me thinking.

So how do they fix the damage to their brand? By considering their Golden Circle. By now, many have seen marketing maven, Simon Sineks famous Ted Talk about what makes companies succeed.

According to him, great companies start with the why. He conceptualized the brand of a company as a "Golden Circle," essentially a series of three concentric circles that layout from outside to inside:

The What a companys products and services

The How this could be everything from the supply chain to the after-sales service.

The Why similar to a vision statement, this is the existential reason for a company; I see it as their ultimate impact in the world.

So, for New Balance, they have to consider how to fix their brand by addressing the controversy at these levels. Heres how New Balances Golden Circle looks:

New Balances Great Why is compelling and can be divined from their web copy: For more than 100 years, New Balance has worked to move the world around us. Through innovation and challenging conventions, New Balances form of movement is stated like this: Our goal is to help you achieve yours. Its concise and offers a clue as to how the company can countervail the negative effects on its brand from this current controversy through movement. People are outraged because New Balance has been yoked to a reactionary group. They should build their new campaign on the idea of moving people of every ilk and persuasion forward. I can see a campaign touting their work to move communities or even a campaign built around human interest stories of people who have transformed their own lives. This would cement the companys commitment to positive change.

Secondly, and equally as compelling is New Balances How. As the company states in a recent press release, they are, proud to be the only major company to make or assemble more than four million pairs of athletic footwear per year in the USA. As the company said in its statement on Instagram and Facebook , We have been and always will be committed to manufacturing in the United States. This is extraordinary for a sneaker company and offers an opportunity for powerful messaging around its labor force which straddles five factories in the U.S. and thousands of employees worldwide from all races, genders, cultures and sexual orientations. The company could mount a campaign showing the faces of the people who cut and stitch and pack New Balances. They could even link every shoe to a specific person by placing a little bio in the box. This would operate as a metaphor of both agency (New Balance 1,300 assembly workers are among the most fleet of foot, only touching the shoes for a quick 22.5 seconds, including difficult tasks such as cutting leather and hand-stitching); and inclusiveness (every pair is touched by a pair of unique, diverse hands).

Finally, we have The What or the actual product. One of New Balances most unique features is it customization program, known as NB1 which allows shoppers to design their sneakers on NewBalance.com with a personalized message embroidered on the back of the shoes. New Balance could celebrate the diversity of its workforce by offering a set of pre-designed patterns that celebrate diversity. Similar to Uber s new app interface which offers unique tartan patterns to visually index the communities it serves, these patterns might be visual markers for gender, ethnicity and regional diversity.

Clearly, New Balance lost control of its message, but by working their Golden Circle, New Balance can reclaim it.