3X BRANDS GOING HYPER-LOCAL
For brands, global reach used to be the goal. Now, relevance is. Audiences are becoming increasingly culturally literate, and with this, the cracks in global sameness are beginning to show.
One-size-fits-all brand activations, rolled out globally with lazy market tweaks aren’t cutting it. The brands that resonate are the ones that show up properly, leaning into market nuance in a celebratory way, and taking the time to show up with understanding and intent. More grounded, more human, more local.
From sport to lifestyle to luxury spirits, these three brands show that relevance is built locally - not in a global toolkit:
NEW BALANCE CELEBRATE PIE, MASH & MILES IN LONDON
Getting onto London Marathon runners’ radars early, New Balance kicked off 2026 with the launch of its training range. To get local Londoners on board, the brand took over M. Manze, one of the city’s oldest pie and mash shops, sitting directly on the marathon route.
Image: New Balance Pie & Mash Shop
Instead of staging a conventional product drop, New Balance embedded itself in a place loaded with local sentiment. Rooted in authentic sport culture and community participation, the activation let the brand’s values surface organically – celebrating working-class heritage, community and a shared national love of pie and mash.
THE MACALLAN REMIXES WHISKY TASTING IN NYC
Traditionally, whisky tastings are a stereotypical affair – leaning hard into old luxury tropes and catering to one audience. And while new-to-world whisky brands are comfortable rewriting the rules, longstanding category dominators often shy away from it. But with its recent NYC activation, The Macallan proved that heritage isn’t rigid, and that relevance is earned when brands let local culture shape how they show up.
Image: The Macallan Edit x Hypebeast
Partnering with Hypebeast, the brand created The Macallan Edit: an unconventional tasting that felt at home in the Big Apple. Taking over The Pearl Box in SoHo, guests wandered through a lounge filled with zines, books and vinyl, sipping cocktails and neat pours. Dancing next to customised bottles with NYC-inspired engravings, guests enjoyed DJ sets and design-led workshops with local creative collaborators like Maxwell Osborne.
Rather than simply adding New York references to a whisky tasting, the experience adopted New York’s cultural behaviours —socialising, browsing, music, design, hanging out—making it feel less like a staged brand event and more like a weekend ritual. Built for the city’s creative class, it reframed whisky discovery as something contemporary, social, and culturally adjacent. The city itself shaped how the brand showed up, how people moved through the space, and how the product was experienced.
NIKE SERVES POST-RUN RECOVERY THE LOCAL WAY
To connect with runners in Guangzhou, China, Nike didn’t do the expected global sports campaign, or a big commercial pop-up, it translated performance into something locally meaningful – a traditional soup stall.
Borrowing from a familiar street-level format rooted in comfort, routine and community, Nike fuelled post-run recovery with bowls of herbal soup complete with Swoosh-shaped spoons.
Image: Nike Soup Shop
The pop-up’s power came from familiarity. By stepping into a new context, and championing culturally meaningful behaviour over hype and visual excess, Nike proved that the fastest way to earn relevance locally is to start with what people already do – not what brands usually say.
Words by Ella Palmer, Culture.
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