Under Armour, Bryce Harper Unveil Signature Cleats Around All-Star Game Festivities

Nationals RF Bryce Harper is featured in Under Armour's “It Comes From Below” campaign, which launched yesterday, and is the next push from the Baltimore-based company in its "quest to challenge Nike as the country’s favored sports apparel company," according to Chris Korman of USA TODAY. Harper's ad, via Droga5, N.Y., called "Numbers," launches a "new line of signature cleats." The spot "recites various numbers Harper has put up or is chasing on his path to becoming one of the best players in baseball, but is also supposed to be a nod to his early coaching." UA Senior VP/Global Brand Marketing Adrienne Lofton said, “We love and lean into Bryce’s personality. He wants to make baseball fun again. We’re about making sports fun again. He’s emotional. Sometimes there’s tension. We lean into and embrace that tension. It’s part of our brand." Harper wore the Harper Platinum cleat (the color also celebrates UA’s 20th anniversary) last night at the T-Mobile Home Run Derby and will wear them in tonight's All-Star Game. UA VP/Footwear Peter Ruppe’s team designed them in consultation with Harper, and they "feature a silhouette of the Vegas skyline" in a shoutout to Harper's hometown. Meanwhile, UA plans to feature another "unapologetically brash athlete," Panthers QB Cam Newton, "in the campaign later this year" (USATODAY.com, 7/11). In Baltimore, Jeff Barker wrote Harper's new cleats are a "variation of Under Armour's Harper One" and "contain a number of Harper-specific details." A UA publicist wrote, "Sewn into the tongue of the Harper One are the numbers '220' -- which has come to be Bryce's mantra, signifying 'Second to None.'" The shoe "will be available next week, along with a model in the black and gold color pattern that he has already debuted on the field" (Baltimore SUN, 7/9).