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Back on December 15th, Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to score more than 40 points in a game. It was also just the third time a teenager had 40 points, five rebounds, and five assists in the leagues 79-year history. The only other two players to achieve that last stat line were LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Given that elevated company, and the fact that James, Durant, and about 65% of the NBA wear Nike shoes, it is still a bit of a shock to see Flagg donning New Balance. View this post on Instagram The privately-owned, Massachusetts-based shoemaker has gradually built a comparatively small, but elite roster of athlete ambassadors over the past decade. Despite its sizeNew Balances 2024 sales were about $7.8 billion, compared to Nikes $51.4BFlagg shares the shoe brand with reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen, and Major League Baseball MVP Shohei Ohtani. Not to mention WNBA standout Cameron Brink, as well as fellow NBA stars Tyrese Maxey, Kawhi Leonard, Jamal Murray, Darius Garland, and Zack Levine. Many star in the brands newest ad that dropped on January 5th. CMO Chris Davis says the goal is not to be the biggest, but to be the best, most boutique sports marketing brand in the world. We had to find that core component of our identity that enabled us to succeed for the first 110 years of our existence, says Davis. And it was rooted in the idea of being the ultimate challenger brand. We always say internally that we’re a brand with heritage, not a heritage brand. A heritage brand purely relies on its past. A brand with heritage honors its past, but is obsessed with innovating into the future. That mentality has fueled New Balance as it’s disrupted streetwear, fashion, and sports. But as its business has grown by 20% or more in each of the past five years, the challenge now is maintaining that boutique challenger status amid the significant growth. Pushing forward with new design As Flagg, Ohtani, and Allen are scoring in sports, New Balance is also able to maintain and build on its streetwear and fashion bonafides with innovative looks like the new Gator Run (a flat style trainer), and of course the snoafer (aka 1906L). Meanwhile, the Abzorb 2000 and SC Elite V5 have been named among the best sneakers of 2025. Davis says that the original seeds for its current star-studded athlete roster were its heritage in running combined with its ties to streetwear and sneaker culture. In those early stages, it was certainly about resonating with our ascension, particularly in the streetwear space, he says. And then of course, it was about the trusted innovations that we’ve been putting forth in running for decades. Now, the driving force is the brands commitment to its independence and what that affords them in how they work with athletes and other collaborators. The fact that we are privately owned certainly facilitates a unique mindset, says Davis. And the fact that we don’t have to make decisions based on Wall Street or quarterly earnings reports, it enables us to take a long-term vision, build a strong foundation, and primarily to do things because we believe that they are the right thing to do, the right thing for the brand, the right thing for our people internally and the right thing for all our partners. The evolving brand of New Balance He credits the brands independent identity with attracting the first in its wave of new athletes over the past decade. But another pillar to Davis athlete strategy is partnership over sponsorship. Athletes arent silod in a single sports category of basketball or tennis, but part of the brand as a whole. This is embodied in launches like the recent collab between fashion label Miu Miu and Gauff. We work collaboratively on everything that our major athletes touch, he says. So we co-author our storytelling, we co-author our product, and we co-author our business strategies together. They have a massive input on how we’re coming to market collectively. That not only enhances their sphere of influence, but it makes them more connected to our brand.” As 2026 kicks off, the challenge facing Davies is the same as it was 12 months ago: Continued growth without sacrificing the culture that got it here. But New Balance recognizes that perception of its brand has changed, and that’s helpd their momentum. Years ago, it was New Balance pitching athletes and other partners to team up, now the company turns down about 99% of inbound requests. The best indication of future behavior is past behavior, and success breeds success, says Davis. At the end of the day, being the best version of ourselves is one of our major goals. But, I don’t think it’s gotten easier because our expectations have gotten higher.
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E-Commerce
A group of former government workers are developing a plan that a future administration can use to rebuild government services damaged by DOGE. Tech Viaduct, an initiative launched by the left-leaning think tank Searchlight Institute, is made up of former senior government officials with experience in agencies including U.S. Digital Service (USDS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and General Services Administration (GSA). Its goal is to create a plan for how the federal government might repair and improve its digital presence, services, and processes. And fast. The group’s thinking is that actual implementation of government reform requires a long lead time, but political party mandates only last until the next electionso the next administration can’t afford to spend two years studying the problem. Instead, the next president needs to hit the ground running. “It’s the combination of rigid short deadlines, such as legislation or election calendars, and every action happening extremely slowly,” Mikey Dickerson, a former administrator of USDS from 2014 to 2017 who’s now working in leadership for Tech Viaduct, says of the slow pace of government work. “It’s good to slow down and be careful when figuring out how a change is going to impact people,” he tells Fast Company. “It’s not good when minor technical decision requires approval from 35 committee members, representing 40 different agendas. That second type of slowness needs to be pruned way back.” A tactical plan for the future Tech Viaduct’s objectives are to draw up a tactical plan for a future administration with options that vary based on political circumstances, including day-one executive actions and wider ambitions that could pass with support from Congress. With three more years left in President Donald Trump’s final term, the scope of their work is a moving target. Part of their work is administrative, technical, and boring to the average civilian, like reforming government procurement, personnel, and oversight systems. But another part is public-facing: building visibility in order to drive adoption and support for the initiative. Americans often compare government services to that of the private sector, and the government is often found wanting. A brand rehab has long been in order. Before it folded last year, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was created out of USDS, the executive branch’s digital office. In place of those entities is the National Design Studio, a new office that launched last August and is headed by Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia. The office has given Trump initiatives the sheen of Silicon Valley web design, masking an agenda of government cuts in a shiny wrapper. This initiative is less interested in such window dressing, according to the plan it’s outline so far. Tech Viaduct’s idea for day-one digital repair Dickerson says he imagines a future president’s day-one executive orders could include a direction that agencies cooperate with a “triage team” to determine digital risks and needs, or stabilize and restore government programs so that they an perform their intended purposes. Other executive orders could instruct agencies to stop illegal or unsafe abuse of private data. He says hed like to see a transparent accounting of what happened to public data under DOGE. His bigger goal is the long-term, systemic improvement to government procurement and the civil service. “It won’t be an overnight miracle,” Dickerson says. “It’s not possible to build, fix, or repair as quickly or dramatically as you can do demolition.” Project Searchlight says it will take years to correct DOGE’s damage, but the group also learned something from DOGE’s efforts: Changing government fast is possible if there’s sufficient political will. “What could be done if the mandate and power of and urgency of DOGE was used to build more effective government services instead of tear them down?” Dickerson asks. Tech Viaduct seeks to find out.
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E-Commerce
Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk turned to the actors from Apple’s 2000s “Get a Mac” ads to differentiate its GLP-1 medication amid a rising sea of competitors. On January 20, the Danish pharmaceutical company announced its “There’s Only One Ozempic” campaign starring Justin Long and John Hodgman. The actors are reprising their roles from Apple’s Mac vs. PC ads playing the personifications of a name brand and the alternativebut now for weight-loss drugs. [Video: Novo Nordisk] Long personified Mac in the original Apple campaign by dressing in a more youthful, casual way than Hodgman, who personified a stuffy, dorky PC by wearing glasses and a suit and tie with a closely cropped haircut. (Think Steve Jobs versus Bill Gates.) In the Apple ads, Mac was always portrayed by Long as more cool and capable. In the new Ozempic ad, Long personifies Ozempic, facing off in a mock game show against Hodgman, who plays all of Ozempic’s competitors wrapped up in one dull brown T-shirt. (His hardworking name is “Other GLP-1s for Type 2 Diabetes.”) Hodgman’s character gets the game show’s single question right after the host asks which GLP-1 is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to lower the risk of worsening chronic kidney disease. The answer is, of course, “Ozempic,” which ultimately makes his win bittersweet. The “Get a Mac” campaign was created by Apple’s ad agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab; 66 total spots aired from 2006 to 2009. In 2010, Adweek named it the best ad campaign of the 2000s for connecting technology to humanity. Now Novo Nordisk is hoping some of that magic can rub off. The new campaign aims to reassert Ozempic’s brand equity in the public sphere as it faces business headwinds. It follows both layoffs and lower sales growth at the company, even as its U.S. competitor Eli Lilly is ascendent. The ad also drops shortly after Novo Nordisk’s other GLP-1, Wegovy, hit the market in pill form. In such a competitive landscape, Novo Nordisk is working to make its brand name the standard. “There’s Only One Ozempic” plays up Ozempic’s unique selling proposition in a practical sense, as a solution to chronic kidney disease. But with a jingle based on the song “Magic” and a pair of actors remembered for selling computers, it’s also positioning its drug as the most desirable GLP-1.
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E-Commerce
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