Recognized as one of the world's most ambitious sports brands, Under Armour depends on the highest level of creative and strategic direction to drive their global innovation objectives.

To acquire creative direction, they looked to a small number of highly-capable design partners for dedicated support. Partners able to not only align with, and work  seamlessly alongside their in-house teams, but also confidently challenge and inform them around product and marketing strategy.

Recognized as one of a select few able to do this, United have worked with Under Armour for many years to develop what has become one of our most collaborative partnerships yet. During this time, we have enabled Under Armour to not only explore what’s next and where their biggest opportunities lie, but also dominate in previously untapped categories.

What’s next, what’s not? The relentless pursuit.

Under Armour’s mission is clear: Make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation.

Because of the scale of activity, Under Armour sometimes lacks the necessary bandwidth to deliver everything.

Working with a business of this scale, culture and influence requires an intelligent and highly flexible approach. Under Armour thrive on testing and measuring ‘what’s next’ and, given the agile and often experimental culture of their brand teams, responsiveness is key, with every single project needing to be managed intelligently, cost-effectively and at speed.

Understanding this internal culture and desired direction, we knew we could add the most value by developing a specific and tailored approach. Above all, this meant providing an exceptional level of creative ability and responsiveness, underpinned by a deep understanding of sport and athletic culture as well as the ability and confidence to interrogate and challenge every brief.

As such, United was required to not only listen, learn and respond rapidly to design briefs with huge commercial possibilities, but also work alongside an ever-shifting team of sports brand and marketing experts at the highest possible level.

UA / Coldgear Armour Elements

A Superhero personality for Under Armour’s latest brand, designed to take on both competitors and the extreme elements.

UA Coldgear Armour Elements is the first line of compression gear Under Armour has introduced using a combination of UA Storm and Coldgear Infrared technology. The apparel provides athletes with unparalleled warmth, support and comfort in extreme weather conditions when on the training field.

United partnered with the Under Armour team to develop a full 360° launch campaign that powerfully communicated the unique product attributes of the performance-focused UA Coldgear Armour Elements brand.

The campaign strategy was brought to life across web, social media, print advertising and go-to-market manuals. Notably, the photography direction and associated imagery pushed what had previously been done within the category to new levels.

UA Global Football / Spotlight & ClutchFit Boots

Launching two brand new lines of advanced football boot technology for Under Armour globally.

United was invited to introduce Under Armour’s latest developments in their Global Football product line, namely the newly designed, ‘Spotlight’ and ‘ClutchFit’ boots.

Through audit and research, and our already in-built understanding and dedication to the game, we brought a level of category understanding to the table that Under Armour simply wouldn’t otherwise be able to access. This insight was then translated into two distinct brand voices that communicate directly with the wearer about the physical elements of the game.

For Spotlight, the direction was around the essence of speed and explosive movement, delivered through advertising that speaks to the modern football player about the need for speed in every direction. With ClutchFit, we locked onto the key characteristics displayed in the revolutionary boot design itself, creating a narrative around controlling the pitch of the ball precisely and commanding the field with with ultimate finesse.

Each of these approaches succeeded in elevating Under Armour boots to the level of true brand aspiration, a game changer in the segment and, due to insane levels of category growth for Under Armour with these products, they are now set to further release numerous developments in their football product line.

UA Golf

Creating a distinctive space for an exceptional global golf apparel line.

One of our first campaigns for Under Armour, cementing our relationship, it required an innovative approach in an otherwise conservative category. A challenger in the golf market, they needed a partner who would deliver a bold, leading-edge way of working, and United fit the bill.

Seeking to augment the presentation of their existing golf apparel line in-store with a more impactful, distinct identity, we embarked on an innovative branding process to create a forceful statement for golf at retail.

The real focus for this was POS. Competitors and category leaders like Callaway and Nike relied heavily on stand-out physical designs to create a unique environment - a store-within-a-store - and this was something Under Armour were keen to replicate.

We crafted an icon and secondary graphics featuring the best golf courses in the world, combined as one immersive image that clearly communicated UA’s global reach and leadership in golf apparel.

Building on the momentum of this message, we leveraged the partnership with Jordan Spieth - now world number 6 -  as the campaign’s ambassador, underscoring UA’s innate ability to consistently seek out and identify the next trends and global sports superstars.

These approaches combined to give Under Armour the vibrant, vital presence necessary to really own the space, both in-store and in the wider category