Under Armour Launches First Multimedia Campaign Aimed At Women

Under Armour is “setting its sights squarely on the women’s market” as the company yesterday unveiled its “first multimedia marketing campaign targeting women, with the tag line ‘No Matter What, Sweat Every Day,’ according to Jean Palmieri of WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY. UA Senior Dir of Women’s Marketing Adrienne Lofton-Shaw said that the company “began to get serious about women’s wear about three years ago and spent the past 24 months making sure the product was right.” She said, “We’ve marketed to women before, but this is the first full-on campaign. We decided 2012 was the year we’d turn the light on. This is our coming-out party.” Palmieri noted the ads, “which were developed in partnership with Crispin Porter + Bogusky, feature female athletes in a variety of sports including running, spinning and yoga.” The 60-, 30- and 15-second spots will “run on broadcast stations such as Bravo, E, VH1 and ABC Family.” In addition to the commercials, which will run through mid-October, UA will “kick off the second installment of its ‘What’s Beautiful’ digital competition to ‘redefine the female athlete’” (WWD.com, 9/4). In Baltimore, Chris Korman notes the new marketing efforts “arrive about a month before a new high-end collection called StudioLux Noir hits stores.” Lofton-Shaw said that in addition to TV ads, social media “would be the primary way Under Armour tries to reach consumers.” Korman notes UA is “making heavy use of Twitter … because of the high level of feedback they can receive.” Lofton-Shaw said that women’s apparel accounts for “about 30 percent of sales” for UA (Baltimore SUN, 9/5).