Early January sees NFL super star Tom Brady front a new campaign launching Under Armour’s new Athlete Recovery Sleepwear range led by a spearhead TV commercial.
The promo for the sportswear brand’s tech-linked ‘Athlete Recovery Sleepwear Powered by TB12’ sees the New England Patriots quarterback explain why sleep, slumber preparation and what you wear to bed are so important to performance.
During football season, the four-time Super Bowl champion (and serial napper) typically heads for bed around 8.30pm after performing ‘a meticulous series of night-time cognitive exercises to help him destimulate his brain’ to ensure a more restful slumber’.
Added to this regime, Brady now wears Under Armour’s line of biometric-aided sleepwear to help maximize his rest.
Indeed, the 39-year-old even credits his career longevity to this strict regimen and high-tech pyjamas.
Following the clothing’s official unveiling at the ‘grand bizarre of the future’ that is the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas during the first week of January, the campaign promotes a sleepwear range that includes full-length shirts and trousers/pants, plus short-sleeve shirts and shorts (available for both men and women and priced between $80 and $100).
The products uses a ‘bioceramic interior to help maximize recovery’ during sleep: UA this bioceramic print reacts to body heat to create far infrared (FIR) energy.
This bioceramic technology covers the inside of the athlete recovery sleepwear, which, as UA global product SVP Glenn Silbert says ‘absorbs infrared wavelengths emitted by the body and then reflects back what are called far infrared waves that help the user’s muscles recover faster, regulate temperature, and ultimately help the wearer to get more quality sleep throughout the night’.
Under Armour has also overhauled its ‘UA Record’ mobile app to adapt to its Sleep & Recovery System: the app now includes new features to help potential and actual PJ purchasers better understand their sleep cycles and enable them to set personal goals toward optimising their overall sleep schedules and routines.
The adapted app, for example, offers a ‘sleep score’ that informs wearers how well they have been hitting their sleep goals over the last 14 days, and a ‘body clock’ that displays how a user’s sleep habits are affecting other fitness or activity goals (including analysis based on time of the week, the season, or other forces that might affect sleep and health goals).
All these sleep stats can be recorded by Under Armour’s wearable tracker, the UA Band, which was launched last year.
Running under the ‘Rest, Win, Repeat’ tagline and led by the centrepiece TV commercial,
and amplified socially across the brand’s own channels such as Twitter
Introducing Under Armour Athlete Recovery Sleepwear: https://t.co/I3hqzRv5AX
REST. WIN. REPEAT. #IWILL pic.twitter.com/OkmIumug83
— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) January 5, 2017
and on the athlete ambassador’s own Facebook page,
with all assets driving viewers to the Athlete Recovery Sleepwear section on the Under Armour website at http://undrarmr.co/2hURLlX.
The campaign even comes complete with a backstory which opens in 2014 when, after suffering a calf injury during the season, Brady used a bioceramic gel sleeve to help aid with his recovery (most healing takes place during sleep).
He then worked with his sponsor and sports equipment partner UA to develop the full gel sleeve into a lighter, more comfortable full body sleepwear product line, that can be easily and comfortably worn at night made sense and could even exemplify the natural benefits of rest.
Comment:
With a deepening focus on advanced technical gear – a long-term strategic model of digital and physical product integration, Under Armour continues to be one of the most interesting companies to watch in this space.
CES also saw other additions to UA updated Record mobile app as the brand also launches connected footwear styles (designed for a different type of running styles) and the company now boasts more than 190 million registered users across its suite of mobile fitness apps.
This campaign is timely, not only because New Year sees consumers look for new practices and healthier lifestyles, but also because January is when American sports fans turn their attention towards the NFL playoffs and the Big Game itself.
While athletic recovery sleepwear may not increase everyman’s chances of winning the Super Bowl and getting into the Hall of Fame, if it can generally support superior sleep it might be something to consider.
First there were sportswear, then footwear and then underwear (well, you know what we mean), now sleepwear – what’s on earth is next?
Links:
Under Armour:
https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/tb12
https://www.youtube.com/user/underarmour
https://twitter.com/UnderArmour
https://www.facebook.com/Underarmour/
