As the French Open got underway, Andy Murray and Teddy Riner took part in a training session atop Paris’ La Grande Arche de La Defense for a photo shoot that formed the core of an Under Armour athlete ambassador activation.
Continuing the brand’s ongoing #IWill concept, the world number one tennis player and the Olympic judo champions participated in a striking shoot ahead of Murray’s assault on a first Roland-Garros title.
The pair’s picturesque training session – the first event ever held on the recently opened roof of the iconic building – aims to showcase ‘the shared technical values of judo and clay court tennis – patience, defence and momentum-swinging attack’.
Riner lead Murray through a set of drills relevant to the dirt of clay court tennis to hone his skills as he aims to improve on his best French Open finish when he was the runner-up to Djokovic in 2016.
The media-focused, PR-led event, developed with sport & entertainment agency Synergy Global, was carried across the French and the world media and was also amplified socially across Under Armour’s Twitter account,
Pour rester les meilleurs @teddyriner et @andy_murray transforment la défense en attaque. #IWILL pic.twitter.com/NknlCInAb2
— Under Armour France (@UnderArmourFR) May 29, 2017
and Facebook page.
It was also promoted on the athlete’s own channels: including Murray’s Facebook channel,
Instagram feed,
and his personal web page.
With a further bump of support from the agency’s own channels too.
Plus there are further supporting Under Armour social media executions in UA’s Murray activation through the tournament.
Striding & sliding across the dirt as @andy_murray breaks his opponent. #IWILL #RG2017 pic.twitter.com/7NTY9jL7Oi
— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) May 30, 2017
“Being number one is about never standing still, you can never believe you have nothing new to learn and must always push to find whatever can take your game forward,” commented Murray.
“So, it was really interesting to see how Teddy prepares for the biggest events and pushes the boundaries of his own training, not just physically but also mentally.”
“Judo is built on the ability to turn defence into attack, a strategy that is also crucial to success in clay court tennis and I believe the session has taught each of us invaluable lessons, not only on its importance but also the patience, focus and will required to achieve it,” added the 28-year-old French 2012 and 2016 Olympic 100kg judo gold medallist.
Activative Comment:
This striking, image-led media initiative leverages two contemporary spotsbiz marketing trends: the first is tennis players atop tall buildings and the second is blending athlete ambassadors in different sports in single campaigns.
As far as the former is concerned, this PR promo follows in the footsteps of Murray’s 2015 Under Armour kit unveiling ahead of Wimbledon which revolved around a similar event on top of London’s One Canada Wharf skyscraper in Canary Wharf.
Other tall building tennis stunts include a 2009 Federer/Agassi match-up on the helipad of Dubai’s Burj-al-Arab Hotel
As for the latter trend, we have seen a wave of recent diverse sports collaboration campaigns over the last year or so.
These have ranged from Red Bull tying together its F1 team and Bath Rugby Club partnerships (see case study), to Movistar connect its MotoGp and Pro Cycling sponsorships within a single campaign (see case study).
Murray may well have faced up against some pretty tough opponents on the tennis court, but none would have been as physically intimidating as Riner.
It was back in February that Under Armour signed up Riner as an athlete endorser as a core part of the sportswear brand’s aim to expand in the French market (where its business is now being run by a subsidiary).
The French Judo Federation may have recently signed a sponsoring deal with Mizuno, but Riner himself has jumped ship from Adidas (whom he had been an endorser for for a decade) to join Under Armour.
“His ambition and fighting spirit chime perfectly with Under Armour’s culture and values, at a time when we are fast developing our brand and business in France,” said VP and European GM for Under Armour Chris Bate when the ambassador deal was announced.
According to Under Armour’s southern European boss Raphaël Lefort, the company’s strategy “is to attack the French market by capitalising on our training line, a segment in which we want to become number one”.
Links:
Under Armour
http://www.underarmour.fr/fr-fr
https://www.facebook.com/Underarmour
https://twitter.com/underarmourfr
https://www.youtube.com/user/underarmour
Synergy
