How Marketing Wins: 04 - New Balance Numeric Reynolds 933
Product: Mike Gigliotti x NB Numeric 933 Reynolds
Premise: Marketing research done on myself to explain how ‘marketing’ caused me to buy.
Side Note: It’s been years since I’ve done one of these. Turns out my buying habits are stuck in routines, and rarely moved by marketing.
Background: I skate almost exclusively in Cons CTAS or some Vans classics. The new Reynolds NB Numeric shoe is on the opposite end of the spectrum, yet I still bought a pair.
Purchased out of pure respect for how New Balance Numeric turned a new team rider and pro shoe launch into a master class on how to make a product feel special and stand out in a stale, oversaturated market.
TIMELINE:
For Longevity, Fruit > Waffles - December 2022 - After a relatively short stint on Vans, compared to his previous twenty years on Emerica, speculation flew on where Reynolds would land next. Until the official New Balance back-cover ad in Thrasher with him holding his signature bag of fruit set the stage for this whole story. “New Boss, New Balance.”
Seeing anything but an NHS ad on the back of Thrasher gets your attention. As a secret wannabe copywriter, it was the tagline that got me. Less-is-more wordplay works every time.
Owning Old - December 2022 - Village Psychic’s interview announcing Reynolds on New Balance addresses old age in the opening line.
Then it quickly gets into growing old in skating and needing a more supportive shoe. It’s what led Reynolds to NB and makes clear they were the only option through photos of cut-in-half shoes and hand-drawn notes.
It ends with a hint at a potential pro shoe. Groundwork starts early.
They’ve Got Lasers - February 2025 - Who else on New Balance would have a Piss Drunx calf tattoo? It’s gotta be Reynolds. And damn, they’ve got lasers too. They must be up to some high-tech shit. Another back cover of Thrasher for a new pro shoe?
What’s A Cover Cost? - March 2025 - There’s an ongoing debate about whether or not the cover of Thrasher can be bought. Maybe I’m stuck in my naive belief that some things in skateboarding remain pure, but the Reynolds’ March ’25 cover, and Curren’s of August ’25, are two shining examples to the contrary.
Conspiracy or not, the Reynolds cover was the first look at his new pro shoe, featured a sneak peek NB ad inside, and got people talking.
Till Your Eyes And Ears Bleed - April 2025 - Flooding every media channel leading up to a launch is common practice for any major product release, but NB did it particularly well. You couldn’t escape it.
Every blog, every niche podcast, and every skate shop YouTube channel had something about Reynolds' new shoe and the process of building it.
Sensitive Soles - December 2025 - When the NB Mike Gigliotti video showed up in my feed, I thought to myself, “How are they going to tell this story again?” There’s been a million pieces on Mike. I get it already.
Truthfully, though, I was looking for any excuse to buy Reynolds shoes. So, I watched, and lo and behold, learned something new.
You’re telling me this gnarly artist, known for drawing evil demons and NSFW imagery, comes from an artistic family, has a sensitive side, and that the shoe's colorway is inspired by the earth tones of ceramics made by his mom and his sister? Sold.
TAKEAWAYS:
Read The Room: Either New Balance had really good consumer data, or they were keenly aware that at the time Reynolds joined their team, the skateboarding industry was coming to terms with the fact that skateparks and industry events looked less like youth culture and more like midlife crisis support groups.
They had everything needed to capitalize on the aging market with The Boss and weren’t afraid to own it.
Using a classic marketing/political tactic, they convinced me I had a problem and that they were the only company holding the solution.
The Problem: My hero is getting old. I’m getting old. My body is deteriorating.
The Solution: New Balance has the foam and technology to give me a supportive skate shoe so I can continue skating comfortably into my old age. Reynolds proved it by cutting all the shoes open. The Boss knows best.
I slowly started questioning my shoe diet of Chucks and Vans slip-ons and their effects on my over-forty body. I’m a dad. Maybe I do need a pair of dad shoes.
Be ultra-specific and narrow with who you’re marketing to.
Try to appeal to everyone and you’ll interest no one.
Do You Still Skate?
Skating is expected, easily lost, flipped past, and exactly what everyone else is doing.
A skate clip of Reynolds is always enjoyable, but at this point, almost unnecessary. His career and body of work speak for themselves.
The rollout for his welcome to New Balance and the launch of his shoe included short skate edits, but in looking back on what influenced me to buy, none were videos of Reynolds skating. The ads that stopped me also didn’t feature a skate trick.
A large campaign based solely on mid-level skate tricks, or even a full part, is about as effective as putting all your money into web banners. Lost in the noise.
New Balance knew skate footage was a necessary piece of the puzzle, but it was far from the bigger picture.
Strictly skating is playing it safe. Safe is stale. Safe doesn’t sell. Not even a dad shoe.
Be Yourself:
On top of seeing the shoe constantly in my feed, the story behind it was also impossible to escape.
Wherever I went, it showed up, and with little to no variance, regardless of who was telling it. Starting with the Village Psychic interview, followed by every piece of content, and personalized smoothie recipe article that followed, the through-line of aging, the lore of a bag of cut-in-half shoes was consistent and unrelenting. The consistency across channels and repetition made it believable.
I bought in, and with each new detail, grew more engaged.
Either NB expertly crafted the whole narrative from scratch, or had a real story and knew how to tell it.
If Reynolds was self-conscious about his age and the neurotic way he looked at the skate shoe design process, or if Mike Gigliotti didn’t share the full story behind his artistic family’s pottery, I wouldn’t have the connection points to latch onto. They sold me by being themselves. NB let them.
The best products come from the best stories.
If your story has to be written after the product is made, you missed. Start over.