Under Armour #RuleYourself
It takes a lot for me to enjoy a marketing campaign. Being the person that I am, I always find problems with campaigns because I would either have done it differently, or I thought they missed an opportunity. Most of the time marketing just involves a product, but when a company uses their marketing to make you feel good about the company, it's even better. And when that same company makes you feel good about yourself, it's gold.
One of my favorite commercials to this day is the "Story of Sara and Juan". I can guarantee that most of you have seen it. If you not, take a look:
.@ExtraGum A seriously fantastic love story, and a wonderful cover of Elvis's Can't Help Falling In Love by @HaleyReinhart. I cried.
— Reid Walley (@ReidWalley) October 9, 2015
@ExtraGum whoever created this commercial deserves an award
— Starr (@preciousrevival) October 8, 2015
The reason that I like it so much is that it's not pressuring the audience. There is no shining product, nobody turned into a superhero from eating a piece of gum, it is just the story of two people, one of which likes to write stories on gum wrappers. It truly is a commercial that projects some feeling into the audience. And if you look all around social media, it really shows.
The reason that people are taking such a liking to it is because it connected with them. It didn't just shove a product down their throats. And Under Armour just accomplished the same thing. At least in my eyes.
Through social media, influencers, and athletes Under Armour has not only created a great brand identity, but they have fond a way to connect their audience and get them to feel good about Under Armour, and to feel god about supporting Under Armour. It made me feel that way. I support wholeheartedly the message that they are trying to spread, and I enjoy the ability to help share it. Even if I am not buying their clothing, I can share their message and help make other people feel good enough to Rule Themselves.
#RuleYourself
Under Armour's new #RuleYourself campaign is incredible. They took their top athletes and created not only individual videos for each of them and their stories, but they created one uniform campaign. #RuleYourself is to show people that they are capable of creating their own paths. The work that you put in will result in the success that you get out of it. To quote UA, "It's what you do in the dark, that puts you in the light." My favorite UA athlete is Jordan Speith, by far, but that is actually not my favorite video. It's good, but I think compared to the others, it is a little bit lacking. Here are all the videos for you to take a look at. Notice how they have patterns involved. They are all preaching the same meaning, and they are all of a uniform look and purpose.
My favorite one is the Micheal Phelps one (and by the amount of views and engagements, it would appear that the rest of the world agrees). There is something about seeing a celebrity in pain that brings them to our level. It makes them a human being, rather than this god-like athlete. It is interesting to see the amount of work that these top level athletes put themselves through because they truly want the best. Besides logos, and the end roll, there is nothing about this that screams Under Armour. It just makes you feel the amount of work he puts into his sport. It makes you feel like you want to put more effort into yours. That's the best part.
What Under Armour is trying to do, is essentially sell motivation. Instead of saying, "That product looks nice, I am going to buy it." you are going to be saying, "That product made me FEEL good. I am going to buy it." That to me is all the difference in the world. Lots of people that know me know that I don't like to buy Nike Shoes because there has been so much hate and stereotyping done by Nike to the people that wear their shoes. Now, that is completely biased. In all reality, there is probably no remarkably huge difference between how Nike runs their company, and how the other major brands do. But it's a personal preference because other brands found ways to make me feel better. Just like this Under Armour campaign did.
The other thing for me personally is that they have behind the scenes videos for a lot of their shoots. The best one for me again being, the Micheal Phelps reaction. To see his fiancé break down in tears because she knows what that commercial shows, and how much he works to be successful, shows how much the campaign really impacts the audience. For all we know this entire thing was staged, but again, if it was, good on Under Armour for capitalizing on those feelings.
Using Social Media
a campaign that connects with every audience
The more times you can reach people with the same message, the more times you get your point across. The more times you get your point across, the more times they are likely to agree with you. That's just simple probability factors. Under Armour nailed this. As stated above, they use their #ruleyourself across all social media platforms that accept hashtags. Possibly the most impressive to me, or rather what I thought was the coolest idea, was their Snapchat filter. Snapchat is a very rapidly growing platform. What started out as a way for people to send pictures back and forth, has become something that individuals can make money from, and companies can get LOTS of marketing material, and other information to.
On the left side is what the raw filter looks like. On the right side is how it might be used. And something that I actually did use. (That's from my Snapchat! @jmorrow020) I thought it was awesome. Being an Under Armour fan, I was very excited to put that filter specifically over a picture of a good golf shot. I go practice every day. So for me, it was really showing the truth. To me it was perfect. Practicing every day led me to make a shot like that. And Under Armour makes me feel like that. It's a superficial feeling yes, but it is there. There is no denying that.
RULE: Perform better than yesterday.Share your rule with #RuleYourself & @underarmour for a chance to win UA swag. http://undrarmr.co/RYRules
Posted by Under Armour on Monday, March 14, 2016
I look forward to more of these commercials. I hope Under Armour continues this campaign. I really like the direction the company is headed, and how they are handling their press and public relations. They are making their customers feel like they are worth something more than a product, and that is huge to me. You all know that I am very apt to suggest that people are capable of doing anything that they want to. Under Armour feels the same way. That message comes across very strong, and makes me feel like I want to do more. Makes me feel like I want to get more out of myself and my skills. I hope you all feel the same.