Under Armour Releases New TV Spots Featuring ManU's Depay, U.S. Gymnasts

Under Armour released the second installment of its global "Rule Yourself" campaign with two new TV spots featuring Dutch ManU player Memphis Depay and members of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team, according to Minda Smiley of THE DRUM. Called "It’s What You Do in the Dark That Puts You in the Light" and created by Droga5, the videos aim to "highlight the immense amount of training athletes must go through to be successful." According to the brand, the spots are "rooted in the underlying theme of JOMO -- or 'joy of missing out' -- and seek to show that athletes don’t mind making sacrifices in their personal lives" if it means that they can be "fully dedicated to training for their sport." A thirty-second ad featuring Depay shows the "grueling training sessions he must go through to achieve greatness." Next month, UA will end the campaign with a video featuring Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps (THE DRUM, 2/23). ADWEEK's Katie Richards reported UA's new spot "is similar to previous work" for the "Rule Yourself" campaign, which in the past has tapped celebrities including ballerina Misty Copeland and NBA Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (ADWEEK, 2/23). AD AGE's E.J. Schultz reported the campaign will include "more than 200 pieces of content to go deeper behind the scenes of the training regiments" of UA endorsers. The new global push will also "call on consumers to describe their own training rituals on social media using '#ruleyourself.'" UA has "arrangements with its star athletes to call out specific user tweets," and the campaign will appear "in more than 40 countries, giving it a broader international reach than any previous Under Armour campaign." The company has media partners that include ESPN, NBC, ABC, MTV, Turner, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Complex and Popsugar (AD AGE, 2/23).