RBIS Makes Every Mile Magical with runDisney Innovation Limited edition retro embellishments inspired by 1928 Steamboat Willie production

Each year, New Balance supplies the official running shoes for runDisney who sponsor many marathons at each of the Disney Parks, enabling runners of all levels to achieve their fairytale running finish! For 2015, runDisney wished to make every mile even more magical for runners by embellishing the iconic Disney characters on the official running shoes. runDisney gave New Balance an incredibly short lead time. Within a few months, they had to supply 15,000 pairs of embellished shoes to launch at the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend in January 2015. To support the request, they turned to RBIS for an urgent and creative solution.

Each shoe required four unique heat transfers: a runDisney logo on the tongue; a Disney logo on the heel; a retro Mickey or Minnie Mouse image; and a character signature on each heel cap. Disney also wanted the embellishments to be created as limited edition retro designs inspired by the classic Steamboat Willie production from 1928. Larry Gargano, Market Development Manager, RBIS shares, “Among the many challenges we faced, the main one was the lack of time– there was no room for long discussions. Each

team member was empowered to make quick decisions to meet the tight deadlines. We broke down silos and delivered this creative solution in record time. As a result, this win has opened other doors for many more opportunities with Permanent Branding and Point of Sale for shoes and apparel.”

Mike Dispoto, Creative Services Manager, Program Management and Pre­Flight, RBIS adds, “With projects like these, which demand fast turnaround times to deliver successful customer product launches, you must be very focused on the solution. The execution must be precise. You must determine the exact solution for the product, what options are available and accommodate and/or modify the customers’ designs into a deliverable end product. Since the Creative team has product line expertise in this area, we were able to execute immediately, resulting in an end product that complements the final look and yields the performance demanded.”

This win further strengthened RBIS' partnership with New Balance. The customer commended our expertise and speed in delivering this creative solution. The shoes also sold out within two days, now generating even more orders. Read DisneyParks blog to learn more about the 2015 New Balance runDisney shoes. Congratulations to the team! Tom Ansbro ­ Account Executive Astrid Bourdois ­ Customer Product Development (CPD) Mike Dispoto ­ Creative Services Manager, Program Management and Pre­Flight Jeff Fishman ­ Application Engineer Larry Gargano ­ Market Development Manager (MDM) Jason Goodnite ­ Art Department Supervisor, Lenoir Sherri Greene ­ Production Art, Lenoir Matthew Kellas ­ Lenoir Plant Manager Steve Robinson ­ Graphic Artist

Tracey Safford, Supervisor Global Sample and Program Deployment Karen Vuncannon ­ Global Sampling and Product Deployment (GSPD)