2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Media?

Our partnership with Sports360 (the only sports dedicated newspaper in UAE) provided us with curated content which we leveraged to establish Under Armour’s presence in an authentic way. Product images and details were strategically integrated within the media’s content making it as relevant as possible and driving brand association. The execution provides brand information that educates and enriches the consumer’s knowledge about the varied products with up to date real-time highlight stats and player performance.

Background.

Under Armour (UA) is the second leading American sports apparel brand in the US after Nike. However in the UAE , the brand has low awareness level and is not as established as its competition. Given the media clutter and the low brand awareness levels compared to the competition that is well established with strong regional presence and greater media investments, our objectives were to: - Fuel the target consumer’s passion points and drive brand association by linking the content with UA’s prominent & diverse stable of multi-award-winning athletes, which includes Michel Phelps (Swimming), Stephen Curry (NBA), Anthony Joshua (Boxing). - Increase front of mind awareness for the brand by 30% - Drive consumer interest and engagement by 15%

Describe the creative idea/insights

The market's perception that print media is dying doesn't hold true in our dictionary, we challenged the norm and believe it is about the way it is utilized. To break through the cluttered environment and authentically engage with the target audience, we redefined the value of real time and programmatic creative optimization through a traditional "non-dynamic media channel" i.e. print Ideally, real time marketing and creative programmatic optimization take place in digital platforms because of its instant nature, however we introduced it to print by integrating the diverse offering of UA within Sport360’s curated content. E.g. if the published article featured UA athlete, Stephen Curry’s (SC) game win, we leveraged this news piece with a product from UA’s basketball segment and so forth.

Describe the strategy.

Target audiences: 1) Athletic males and females 18-35yrs with above average income seeking premium quality sports apparel and accessories to boost performance 2) Non-athletes but sports enthusiasts that follow games, highlights and considered loyal fans toward a team/player by wearing branded sportswear News hasn’t changed, but the way we consume it has, where news content today differs between online and offline channels. As an observation the previous has become an avenue for collecting news in the form of infographics and snippets while the latter is for in-depth news. As consumers, we are constantly bombarded with media impressions that shout ‘brand’ and often fail to connect with our personal motivations. Hence, our aim is to create impressions that last in the consumer’s mind. Our approach is to leverage the value of real-time sports “Winning Moments” on print using UA’s athletes, link these moments to the core audience and solidify brand association

Describe the execution.

Picture this...A library of images using multiple creative formats were created and integrated within curated content on offline platform supported by digital. Allowing maximized relevancy and a meaningful connection with the audience. Implementing Creative Programmatic Optimization allowed the experience to be specifically tailored to the audience. We went beyond the traditional way of buying insertions/space and looked at buying and owning "Winning Moments". The moments planning posed as a big challenge to successfully manage last minute product placement based exclusively on a positive sporting outcome. E.g. Owning a winning moment by integrating the new SC-6 shoe within the article announcing the Warriors’ victory. Another example is showcasing another Under Armour athlete Anthony Joshua on his recent win. Agility, flexibility and up to the speed coordination with all parties involved to identify and ensure all crucial sports moments were utilized and the content integration was properly executed.

List the results.

This is a media first and has never been implemented before at least for this region. As per Sport360, they started receiving requests by other sports clients for the same. Results include; - Increased brand value with top of mind awareness 80% - Brand recall 59% - Quantitative - Search volumes 50% in the consumer’s mind - Quantitative as per Google Analytics - Qualitative - The highly customized/targeted nature of the campaign delivered zero wastage in terms of audience relevancy. From UA perspective, this approach was a successful and revolutionary shift in client mindset away from ‘all things digital’ with a refocusing on the value of offline. The strategy of buying moments instead of pages delivered tangible brand association and engagement benefits in which 33% of the respondents said that their impression of UA has improved in the last five months vs only 24% for Nike and 21% for Adidas.