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A Different Take with Linda Boff
A Different Take with Linda Boff episodes
- New Balance Became Cool. Now What?
New Balance has gone from “dad shoe” to global cultural force. But how do you stay authentic once you've made it?
In this episode of A Different Take, host Linda Boff looks at New Balance's next challenge with Complex Associate Editor Matt Welty, Klutch Athletic CEO & Founder Rich Paul, New Balance CMO & Brand President Chris Davis, five-time Olympic medalist Gabby Thomas, and Kith Founder, CEO & Creative Director Ronnie Fieg.
From athlete partnerships and cultural relevance to growth, product, and the power of staying fiercely independent, they unpack what it takes to get bigger without becoming something you're not.
0:00 Introduction
0:59 The Competitive Landscape Has Changed
2:07 The Athlete Is Also Changing
5:25 The Biggest Risk: New Balance Itself
8:25 What Success Actually Means
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17 min - Why Being Private Is New Balance’s Secret Weapon
What if staying private is one of New Balance’s biggest competitive advantages?
In Episode 3 of A Different Take, host Linda Boff explores how New Balance’s independence allowed the 100-year-old brand to think differently—playing the long game, building meaningful collaborations, and creating cultural relevance without chasing every trend.
New Balance CMO Chris Davis joins creative visionary and New Balance collaborator Ronnie Fieg, alongside Complex Associate Editor Matt Welty, offering an outside perspective on the brand’s evolution, collaborations, and culture.
A Different Take is hosted by Linda Boff.
0:00 Introduction
1:02 Private Ownership
2:23 The Long Game
4:45 Ronnie Fieg
7:11 The Product Has a Memory
8:38 Scarcity Without The Hype Machine
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16 min - Why Are The World's Biggest Athletes Choosing New Balance?
What makes an athlete choose one brand over another?
In Episode 2, Linda Boff goes inside New Balance’s approach to athlete partnerships with Rich Paul, Chris Davis, Gabby Thomas, and a leading sneaker journalist. From moving beyond traditional endorsements to building long-term relationships and authentic athlete stories, we explore why New Balance chose to play the game differently—and why athletes noticed.Because today, the biggest partnership might not be about the biggest paycheck.0:00 Introduction0:54 Endorsement vs. Partnership4:46 The Big First Example: Darius Bazley7:36 Not A Numbers Game11:36 Why It WorksLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
19 min - How New Balance Went From Dad Shoes To Cultural Icon
A Different Take — Season 2 launches with the story of New Balance’s remarkable transformation from “dad shoe” to one of the hottest brands in sports and culture.
Hosted by Linda Boff, this episode goes behind the strategy that changed how the world saw New Balance. Chris Davis, Chief Marketing Officer & Brand President of New Balance, and Matt Welty, Complex Associate Editor and longtime sneaker journalist, unpack the pivotal moments—from limited-edition collaborations and the rise of sneaker culture to New Balance’s decision to embrace its heritage rather than imitate its competitors.
How do you make an “uncool” brand cool without losing what made it authentic in the first place?
Welcome to Season 2 of A Different Take.
0:00 Intro & Background
2:56 The Reputation
6:17 The Turning Point
7:45 What Actually Changed?
12:58 Surprise: They Didn't Hide The Dad Shoe
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17 min - AI, Ads, and Outrage: Coca-Cola’s Holiday Backlash
Episode 2: Was Coca-Cola's campaign a defining test case for whether AI can serve as a creative collaborator rather than a replacement for human talent? Secret Level founder Jason Zada explores how one of the world’s most iconic brands balanced innovation with consumer expectations, what it means to introduce AI at scale, and how creative leadership evaluates when emerging technology enhances—not diminishes—the craft of storytelling.
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37 min - Marketing, Rewritten: Life After the First AI Holiday Campaigns
Episode 4: Did Coca-Cola’s AI campaign herald a new golden age of marketing? We talk with Silverside founder PJ Periera about how brands can use AI to reimagine iconic assets and blend nostalgia with new forms of storytelling, while navigating the risks that come with touching deeply familiar cultural symbols. The conversation explores whether this marks a true turning point for marketing, how AI is redefining creative excellence, and what separates meaningful brand reinvention from content that is merely faster and cheaper to produce.
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43 min - Santa Meets Silicon: The Story Behind Coca-Cola’s AI Campaign
Episode 2: Coca-Cola's holiday advertising has long-signaled the unofficial start of the season so their seminal use of AI caught a great deal of attention. But this wasn’t an overnight experiment rather the result of years of exploration, raising questions about how legacy brands can thoughtfully adopt emerging technology while navigating public skepticism. The conversation with Coca-Cola CMO Manolo Arroyo examines whether audience reactions were driven by the technology itself or its execution, when AI genuinely unlocks creatively, and how brands and creators can balance innovation, cultural relevance, and concerns about the future of creative work.
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47 min - AI Ads & Audience Trust: The Coca-Cola Test Case
Episode 3: Veteran storyhunter and filmmaker Josh Davis helps unpack a broader shift in marketing, where AI is making high-quality storytelling faster, more accessible, and increasingly scalable for brands of all sizes. Questions explored are whether society is moving from skepticism to acceptance of AI, how audiences define authenticity, and what marketers can learn as technology evolves faster than cultural norms and expectations.
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41 min
About A Different Take with Linda Boff
From the publisher's feed
A Different Take is the marketing case study podcast that unpacks the biggest brand, product, and advertising launches of our time. Each season spotlights one iconic company or breakthrough innovation, seen from every angle—strategy, creative, timing, risk, cultural resonance, and the lessons that shaped the outcome.
Season Two goes inside the remarkable transformation of New Balance—from the quintessential “dad shoe” to one of the hottest brands in sports and culture. We unpack the strategy behind the reinvention: how New Balance embraced its heritage instead of running from it, built credibility through athletes and collaborators, and found a way to become culturally relevant without compromising their values.
If you want to understand why campaigns succeed—not just that they do—this is your insider’s playbook.
Big launches. Bold bets. Real lessons.
Linda Boff is one of the marketing industry’s most influential leaders. After a distinguished 20-year career at GE, including a decade as Global CMO, she now serves as President of the Forbes CMO Network and CEO of Said Differently, an award-winning agency recognized for its innovative, scalable approach to creative and digital marketing. Throughout her career, Linda has led global marketing, communications, culture, learning, and philanthropy initiatives, played a key role in GE’s transformation into three publicly traded companies, and earned some of the industry’s highest honors, including induction into the AAF Hall of Fame, the Forbes CMO Hall of Fame, and Adweek’s B2B Innovation Lifetime Achievement Award.