Under Armour Gets Real Tough in Latest Star-Studded Ad

Continuing to pioneer new ground ahead of their already robust slate of renowned Under Armour campaigns, co-directors Julian King and André Stringer and their colleagues at collaboration company DOMO have unveiled their latest trailblazing campaign for the brand.

Developed hand-in-hand with Under Armour’s in-house creative team, the campaign features a highly cinematic ad addressing the full media landscape and featuring superstar talent Jordan Thompson, Seth Curry, and Fleur Jong in a campaign designed to engage athletes of all levels by showing the universal battle of finding that extra gear.

The life-blood of the campaign hinges on the simple question: “When you dig deep, what do you find inside?” Writer and editor Nathan Caswell shares: “We were after something visceral and universal. We studied coaches and their ability to motivate using grounded language, those who know simpler is always better. We wanted to evoke that soil under the fingernails, the grime and sweat in pursuit of something more meaningful, shared in the plainest possible way.” 

As an athlete, failure and frustration aren’t freak occurrences, they’re table stakes. Every athlete has experienced inflection points in their training, moments that push them to their limit, bring them to the point of utter exhaustion, and allow them to really look within and find out who they are. Creative Lead Ginger Boyd notes, “It was crucial to unearth the most evocative version of this shared experience. To capture that feeling and allow it to reflect and inspire all athletes, from elite pros like Curry, Thompson, and Jong, to everyday focused performers who embody this way of seeing the world.”

The ad begins with that call to answer that every athlete is faced with at one point or another: “What do you do when your goal seems out of reach?” then shows dynamic & engaging footage of hard-working star talents grinding away on their craft and delivering testimony of their mentality to overcome any obstacle. Each star with their own internal way of finding that last push, that dig deep. The final cut to the UA logo imbues the spirit of the footage into the brand, creating a synonymous relationship with resilience and the UA way.

The campaign is meant to submerge the audience in the transformative nature of training. King explains, “we began by visualizing the narrative of resilience, diving deep into the contrast between the disorientation of being at your physical limit and the clarity of finding yourself and pushing through. In finding your footing again, there's almost a new reorientation to the world around you, leaving you stronger as a result.

With DOMO’s team of multidisciplinary creatives, the campaign is set to motivate athletes as a whole, expressing how resiliency in the toughest mental valleys can unearth the most fertile soil of success. In addition to the anthemic film and social content the campaign includes new original DOMO music.

DOMO’s contributors also include managing partner Rani Melendez and many others, including finishing and VFX by DOMO.