Post by Dan Gray

21 years ago, Under Armour made a controversial marketing decision that could’ve shuttered the company for good. Here’s the story (60-second read): In 2003, Under Armour was the cash-strapped new kid on the block — punching up to Nike, Adidas, and Reebok. When it came time to create their first commercial, two agencies pitched ideas about showcasing why athletes should wear Under Armour’s compression shirts. Both came in way over budget. So, founder Kevin Plank and the UA team decided to take a different approach. They hired Producers, a Baltimore production company. While costs were initially still high, the company offered a smaller package— for “Corporate Videos”—at a lower ticket price. Kevin and Steve Battista, an early employee, scripted the 30-second spot. Thinking back to their athletic days, they wrote down every football cliche they could think of. A former teammate of Plank’s, Mark Mason, would take every handoff from practice to the opposite end zone while screaming “To the house!”. Battista changed it to “Protect this house” — and just like that, the now-infamous tagline was born. Filmed over the course of 3 days in an abandoned warehouse, and with appearances from Kevin’s former teammates to keep budget low, the ad was a huge success — for a couple of reasons. 1) While most football ads feature polished athletes in game day action, Under Armour highlighted real athletes—doing real work. 2) Two years post-9/11, the idea of “Protecting this house” resonated with a lot of Americans. Not that capitalizing on tragedy is ever the goal, but the messaging definitely hit home. As for results: The tagline was mentioned on both Stuart Scott and David Letterman’s shows. More than that, the company went public less than two years after starting to run the ad. “Protect this house” remains their tagline to this day. Takeaways from the campaign: 1) Bigger budget doesn’t always mean better. 2) Speaking your audience’s language will always win. Hope you enjoyed this. If you did, mind sending it to one marketer you know? #marketing #marketingcampaign #businessstories