Under Armour leverages the new NBA season with a new ‘Make That Old’ footwear campaign revolving round its biggest basketball endorser – Steph Cury.
The latest iteration of the Golden State Warriors’ super star’s signature shoe – the Curry 3 – is the subject of this multichannel campaign rolling out in late October as the 2016/17 season gets into gear.
The campaign narrative explores the issue of redemption: building on the fact that the brand’s baller endorser Curry and his team, despite being heavy favourites and breaking regular season winning records, lost the last NBA Finals.
The initiative continues the rapidly expanding sportswear outfit’s successful social and digital strategy and ‘Make That Old’ is spearheaded by a mobile-optimized video hosted on YouTube and first debuting on 21 October.
The spot, helmed by Harmony Korine and shot in California’s Bay Area, opens with a set of dramatic moments in Curry’s career: stretching from initial doubts about his ability to make it as a pro and culminating in the NBA Finals which came despite Curry scooping the season’s MVP award and his Warriors’ team posting a record 73-9 regular season record.
The footage, of course, and much of the social support places the new Curry 3 shoe front-and-center.
Honoring the classic Royal & Gold.
The #Curry3 #DubNation ‘Heritage’.
Get it now: https://t.co/dgWixWuReG pic.twitter.com/rXE6mLtzeu
— Under Armour Hoops (@UAbasketball) October 25, 2016
The spot is supported by an additional set of digital components, a promotional Snapchat element and a full social media push that includes Under Armour’s basketball division @UABasketball posting campaign updates to Twitter,
Game 7. Still fresh.
Now, Make That Old. #IWILL pic.twitter.com/RxDW8acgTq
— Under Armour Hoops (@UAbasketball) October 26, 2016
Unanimous. Scoring Champ. 402. 73-9. 50-40-90 Club. Missed championship.
That’s last season.
Now, Make That Old. #IWILL pic.twitter.com/lm2DpeA2Ni
— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) October 24, 2016
Start fresh.
Make that old. #IWILL pic.twitter.com/iNIPA4t3n8
— Under Armour Hoops (@UAbasketball) October 26, 2016
Coming soon… #IWILL pic.twitter.com/oPnNMvN7pF
— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) October 23, 2016
and Instagram.
The shoe is also available on Under Armour’s website and can also be bought through its UA Shop App from 25 October.
Comment
The timing of this Curry shoe campaign, with the late October launch coinciding with the start of the new NBA season, matches its approach in 2015 with the Curry 2 campaigns (see case study).
Whilst on the surface, the campaign story clearly references the Warriors’ surprise defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Curry’s conquest by top NBA rival Lebron James, but we can’t help but wonder whether between the lines it is a dig at the brand’s main competitor (and basketball sportswear titan) Nike’s Jordan range.
After all, Under Armour has long been clear about its objective of winning basketball market share from Nike’s lifestyle leading Jordan brand.
Indeed, Under Armour even launched its own premium end leisure line called Under Armour Sportswear at this year’s New York Fashion Week.
Indeed, the campaign runs head to head at the beginning of the new NBA season with Nike’s own, LeBron led ‘Come out Of Nowhere’ (see case study).
Indeed, while the UA Curry spot has thus far notched up more than 1m YouTube views, rival Nike’s LeBron led ad has generated an impressive 5m views to date.
We also question whether the campaign’s redemption theme also subtly refers to the fairly widespread public criticism and derision of the UA line’s previous player offering – the Curry 2 Low Chef – which drove an avalanche of social parodies and jokes.
Plus thee is a brand story synergy with redemption too as this theme could also be seen as indicative of Under Armour’s surgent-led overall brand strategy.
Links:
Under Armour YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/underarmour
Under Armour Twitter:
https://twitter.com/UnderArmour
Under Armour Web:
Under Armour Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Underarmour/
