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Creative Strategy Partners

New Balance Puts The Competition On Mute With Music Collaboration

From Little Black Book

New Balance has launched its limited edition Tekela Pitch Control boot with up-and-coming grime artist, Big Zuu, and fellow rapper, Eyez; creating a unique track to mark the occasion. The partnership and campaign has been created and brokered as a New Balance Football collaboration by ZAK, New Balance Football’s global creative agency and Racepoint, New Balance Football’s global PR agency.

Breaking the category norms of a typical boot launch, the campaign links the influence and control a Tekela player has over the game with that of a musician controlling the tempo of a track. The artists were given free rein to launch the boot how they wanted to. Their answer was simple: they wanted to lay down a track, live in studio, allowing them to talk about football and the boot in a unique and authentic way.

The entire track was written in just 20 minutes and teased through the artists’ and New Balance’s social platforms. The final track was then dropped on the official boot launch day, with additional interview/behind the scenes content creating further reasons to engage.

The assets will roll out globally, going live across social and digital channels, and featuring in selected retail outlets and ecommerce sites.

Matt Bennett, CCO ZAK, comments: “In the world of mega-star, product tie-ups, we wanted something fresher and more underground. Zuu and Eyes definitely bring something new to the table. They’ve got an energy about them that fits the brand and we knew they could create something for us on the fly. That’s why we felt they were right for this project.”

Nicola Jones, global marketing manager for New Balance Football said: “With this Limited Edition launch we really wanted to create a campaign that tapped into a key interest of our consumers: music. It was great to work with up and coming artists like Big Zuu and Eyez to bring this vision to life and create a moment that spans music and football.”