New Balance at TCS NYC Marathon
- New York
- Brand Activation
- Apparel & Footwear
Brand Immersion for a Retail-Centric Journey
THE CHALLENGE
Capacity and Throughput
As the official footwear sponsor of the TCS NYC Marathon, New Balance needed to create an inviting and immersive branded experience that would accommodate up to 165,000 guests in their 45,000 square foot space at the three-day event.
Being one of the country’s largest running expositions, New Balance leveraged this unique opportunity to offer a branded consumer journey that would accommodate large crowds equally while boosting retail sales and brand awareness through their official New Balance TCS NYC Marathon Collection of athletic gear.
THE SOLUTION
Functionality and Design
With such a large volume of guests expected to journey through the Expo hall over the course of the event, Impact XM designed a consumer experience for New Balance that focused on the core components of a successful retail-centric journey—effective wayfinding, premium retail displays, and seamless checkout process.
To create an immersive brand experience, we surrounded the entire space with walls that built a sense of curiosity and exclusivity from outside the space and offered ample real estate for branded campaign graphics both inside and out. Once guests entered the space through the branded New Balance archway, custom retail fixtures and product displays were strategically positioned to help organize and segment the space.
The functionality and usability of each retail component were closely considered to solve specific retail objectives. For instance, the central t-shirt bar was designed to creatively reference New York city streets using real scaffolding as the structure and concrete finishes for the walls, an iconic NYC setting.
To maximize through-put and navigation for guests, overhead wayfinding paired with floor graphics was located throughout the space for optimal visibility. Purchasing was encouraged as guests were guided through the space by brand ambassadors and exited through the checkout area where over 60 checkout stations were located for a streamlined purchasing experience.
THE IMPACT
Impact XM was able to design a space which allowed the large volume of participants to effectively navigate through the massive footprint and successfully met New Balance’s retail-focused sales targets. The space welcomed 65,000 visitors at the peak and tracked over 142,010 visitors over the course of entire three–day event.
“We could not be more excited to be heading back to New York for the TCS New York City Marathon. We always reserve some of our most pinnacle product to serve the global running community who come to NY year after year.”
