Under Armour is revamping its 20-year-old “Protect This House” campaign in a move to appeal to Gen Z. New ads debuting this week focus more on teamwork and less on competition.
The campaign features longtime endorser Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, as well as college basketball star Aliyah Boston and WNBA standout Kelsey Plum.
The original campaign, which debuted in 2003, gained attention for its raw representation of athletes. But instead of the “us versus them” message of past campaigns that used the tagline, the new effort is “looking at athletes themselves and the pressure that they come under,” said Paul Nugent, Under Armour’s senior VP of global marketing and category.
In one 30-second ad, which will air in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Spain and China, athletes are shown getting hyped up for a game by chanting “protect this house” in locker rooms with their coach and teammates.
The new use of the tagline aims to be more of a “movement,” while the campaign previously focused on specific spots, said Nugent.
The emphasis on teamwork aims to reach Gen Z by getting “at inclusivity, while still having this toughness,” said Nugent. The brand “chose Steph because he represents the mentality of this generation,” and Boston transformed the chant to make it “more musical,” he said.
The campaign—from creative production partner Tool, directed by Wes Walker—will air on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Snapchat and YouTube. TV buys will run during March Madness and NBA games until the end of April.
The ads mark Under Armour's first work with Zambezi, which was named its lead global agency last year after the brand handled its own campaigns in-house for several years. The agency worked with Under Armour’s in-house team to create the campaign, said Brian Boring, Under Armour’s VP of global brand creative.
With future rollouts, the sportswear company plans to use the chant to generate organic social content through people posting their own versions, said Nugent. The goal is for the chant to be “adopted by culture” through user-generated content on Instagram and TikTok, he said.
Future content will drop during “key sports moments” such as the women’s World Cup this summer, said Boring.
Under Armour has been working to reach younger athletes, specifically those aged 16 to 20, executives said during an earnings call in February.
To this effect, Under Armour began to put funding towards training for younger athletes, including committing to offer scholarships and programming for HBCU and female college athletes, at the beginning of last year after moving away from big college deals. It launched an in-house campaign with longtime endorser and now-retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady in September that targeted young athletes.
Along with its new agency, Under Armour is under new leadership—Stephanie Linnartz, former Marriott International Inc. president, took over as CEO on Feb. 27. Under Armour reported revenue of $1.6 billion, up 3% from the prior-year period, in the quarter ended Dec. 31. Its fiscal third-quarter results beat expectations but the company has been dealing with a falling stock price and a glut of inventory.
