The Worlds First New Balance Experience Store Brought To Life Through A Sensory Approach

(I-Newswire) August 23, 2009 - The store, New Balance's first ever Experience Store™, showcases the company's century-long heritage over two floors amidst framed archival photographs, vintage New Balance advertisements and brand paraphernalia dating as far back as 1910.

A DNA ribbon which extends from the first floor entrance all the way to the second floor takes the consumer through a chronological journey documenting the brand's rich past, present and future. The detail in the overall store design is further complimented by audio, visual and olfactory experiences throughout the store including the unique smell of natural woody notes, with a touch of leather, reminiscent of a shoe store's scent from the mid-20th century.

What does New Balance sound and smell like? To create the right atmosphere for the brand product highlights, Equal Strategy's sensory marketing guru Simon Faure-Field deployed a woody scent coupled with 1950's style "be bop" music. Customers can "bop while they shop" to the sounds of Bill Haley and the Comets, Little Richard, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis.

In addition, Equal Strategy's programmed in-store messaging directs customers to check out the store's second floor merchandise and repeatedly highlights New Balance's unique Performance DNA concept. Scientific research has found that 40% of shoppers who listen to in-store audio messages are influenced in their purchasing decisions.

Says Faure-Field, "This sort of sensory branding has fast become the brave new world of retail. It's no longer simply enough to present your products or services in a strongly branded visual context; the brand needs to connect and engage with all five senses of the customer in order to create resonance and establish long-term loyalty".

"And this particular New Balance store was all about conveying the brand's history and heritage over a century of business, so the human senses have been stimulated to project this kind of 'time capsule' look and feel to some of the store's areas. Customer and management response has been hugely encouraging and Equal Strategy hopes New Balance will see the value in adopting these advanced retail techniques across all its coming Experience Stores around the World.

Bob Neville Regional Retail Manager for New Balance in Asia Pacific commented "we are very pleased with the way the music, messaging and specially formulated New Balance 'aroma' integrate within the built three dimensional aspect of the New Balance Experience Store. We want to create a brand experience that is totally reflective of the brand essence and as such this has to go beyond what you see and encompass all of the human senses. This first Experience Store in Beijing marks the first of a global role out and will for the first time see, hear and smell the New Balance brand in an integrated and total experience"

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Equal Strategy
PR - Danny Chaplin
Tel: +65 6338 6223
Email: danny.chaplin@chaplinpr.com

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