Under Armour Applies Its Muscle to Shoes - Ingles

IN recent years, Under Armour apparel has become a must-have for legions of professional and amateur athletes looking for sweat-absorbing sportswear. Now the company is introducing the biggest campaign yet for its athletic shoes in hopes of matching that success in footwear.

Using Under Armour’s signature crisp, heart-pounding advertising style, the company’s “Footsteps” campaign — on television, online and in print and social media — features shots of sweat-dripping athletic champions pushing their training limits while, of course, wearing the company’s form-fitting apparel and shoes.

Cam Newton, the Heisman Trophy winner who was chosen by the Carolina Panthers in this year’s N.F.L. draft, and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady are among the athletes who appear in the television ad. Footage of them throwing a football, running and jumping is interspersed with slower motion shots of the company’s forthcoming shoe models.

“Do you hear footsteps,” whispers Ray Lewis, the Baltimore Ravens linebacker, who narrates the 30-second spot, “or are they hearing yours?”

The footwear commercial, timed to coincide with the opening of the N.F.L. preseason, includes footage of flying missiles and hunting lions, underscoring the theme that “you want to be the hunter rather than the hunted,” said Scott Duchon, creative director for Twofifteen McCann. The agency, part of Interpublic Group, worked with Under Armour to devise the advertising approach.

“Footsteps links to athletes and to the Under Armour brand,” he said of the commercial. “People train to be in the footsteps of great athletes, and Under Armour is coming after the big guys in footwear.”

The commercial, which begins running this week on prime-time cable and network television, is showcasing Under Armour’s new Split and Charge RC models. The running shoes use Under Armour’s patented lightweight foam for cushioning and stability, and its HeatGear sweat-wicking material on the upper shoe — the company’s first use of Under Armour apparel technology in its shoes.

“This is our biggest footwear campaign, and when you see it you know immediately that it is Under Armour,” said Steve Battista, Under Armour’s vice president for brand. “It’s a metaphor for athletes tackling their goal.”

The campaign was directed by Peter Berg, who said he first heard about Under Armour when he was researching his movie, and later, his Emmy-winning television series, “Friday Night Lights.”

“We wanted to capture these world-class athletes’ confidence in specific moments and keep Under Armour’s muscular spirit,” said Mr. Berg, who had a transparent floor built in order to photograph some basketball jump shots for the commercial.

Under Armour’s Split shoe is in stores now. The Charge RC shoe will not be available for sale until December, except for a limited distribution on the company’s Web site, UA.com, in October, and in running specialty stores like City Sports, also starting in October.

Under Armour ran a teaser of its “Footsteps” commercial last Thursday on the premiere of MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” and the spot will reappear on the channel and others like ESPN, starting this week and continuing through December.

Campaign print ads also will appear in “Yahoo! Sports” and STACK magazines and a billboard with Newton will appear for a month in Times Square starting Aug. 15. Optimum Sports, owned by Omnicom Media Group, directed the media buy, the first time Under Armour has outsourced that function.

To cater to its 12- to 24-year-old audience, Under Armour is planning a takeover of YouTube on Aug. 16. Topping the YouTube page will be a large ad featuring a 60-second spot directing fans to an interactive Facebook tab, called the Footsteps Experience, which gives fans access to outtakes and behind-the-scenes clips of Newton and other Under Armour athletes.

The Baltimore-based company is also drawing on celebrity athletes’ playlists — including Mr. Newton’s — to show, Mr. Battista said, what pushes these athletes “to work hard and crush the competition” and to show “the songs that drive their footsteps.”

For a 10-day period beginning Aug. 22, Under Armour is planning a social media scavenger hunt, called “UA Footsteps Frenzy,” to hide “footsteps” icons on the brand’s Facebook, Twitter and partner sites to provide footwear clues that earn prizes for contestants. Fans can track how they are doing on a Footsteps Frenzy leader board and use the Footsteps Experience tab to ask for help in figuring out the clues.

Under Armour worked with Digitaria, a WPP-owned agency, to take the “Footsteps” campaign online, including the banner ads, the Facebook tabs, the YouTube takeover page and the Footwear Frenzy contest. Founded by Kevin Plank, a former University of Maryland football player in 1996, Under Armour enlists athletes from football, basketball and other sports in its marketing campaigns. Newton, who signed with Under Armour this year, wore its apparel at Auburn as part of the university’s deal with the company. The company, which is a competitor in the athletic cleats market, introduced its shoe line in 2008, pitting itself against giants like Nike and Reebok at a time when the economy began faltering. A total of $22 billion in athletic footwear was sold last year, with Nike cornering a 36.4 percent share, said retail analyst Matt Powell, of SportsOneSource, which tracks the market. Other companies have much smaller shares, including Reebok at 5.8 percent and Under Armour at 1.1 percent, he said.

Even so, Mr. Powell said there was room for companies like Under Armour to compete in a market that, so far this year, has had a 5 percent uptick in sales. Under Armour’s footwear revenue rose 31 percent, to $46.9 million from $35.8 million in the second quarter compared with the same quarter a year ago, according to its financial filings. The company expects to spend $15 million to $20 million on the footwear campaign. (source New York Times)