New Balance

Getting an Archives Up and Running

New Balance approached History Factory when it sought to create an immersive brand experience in the lobby of its new corporate headquarters in Boston. The company had several decentralized repositories of artifacts and materials, but it lacked an organized, cataloged and centralized archives that it could use as inspiration for the brand experience. It was also clear that New Balance’s communications, product design and development, and legal teams would benefit from an archives.

History Factory centralized New Balance’s archival assets, bringing together its collections in a single location. A Discovery Program™ helped fill gaps in the collections by soliciting donations of products from employees and retirees. Following the Discovery Program, we formulated a digitization strategy based on assets’ value for the immersive experience, as well as for the needs of the marketing, product development and legal departments.

New Balance’s archives program uncovered many artifacts previously lost or unknown to the company, adding greater depth and interest to the brand experience. The advanced digitization strategy included the preservation of video assets and the creation of 3D images of physical objects so that those assets could be better preserved but still accessible for various uses. It’s also noteworthy that the comprehensive archives has inspired the product development team to re-release vintage shoe designs, to the delight of New Balance fans around the world.