How We Are Royale Helped Launch Under Armour’s Newest Breed of Technologies

Under Armour is known for its innovative performance products and compression fabrics; it’s how the company began more than 20 years ago. UA HOVR is a unique combination of a proprietary foam compound developed in partnership with Dow Chemical, and an ‘Energy Web’ compression fabric that wraps it – securing the foam and providing incredible cushioning and shock absorption with every single foot strike.

Under Armour creatively partnered with us to work on the entire launch campaign for not only those two running shoes, but also for the UA HOVR cushioning system itself. The task at hand involved creating content to help Under Armour continue to stand out as a global leader in innovative performance apparel, footwear and equipment with their latest innovation in footwear cushioning technology.

It meant leveraging every facet of our production services to create the abstracted simplifications of the materials, orchestrate the live action shoot with a group of athletes, and conceptually ensure that the story being told across all platforms (social, web, commercial, OOH, and retail) was consistent.

Any product claiming the 'Zero-G' sensation while running warrants it. But we wanted to give the viewers more context than just another abstract red/UA HOVR background. We needed a controlled urban setting were we could art direct in line with the rest of the campaign, providing us full control of lighting and colour.

We worked with Regan Jackson, production artist extraordinaire, to visualise and fabricate various urban locations on an extended outdoor set. We built half a city block and filled it with traffic as well as an alleyway shooting off of a construction zone. We wanted real spaces, hit with the red hero colour of the product that could serve as obstacle courses for our runners.

Those runners were a combination of Under Armour signed talent, brand ambassadors, and some fresh faces with a particular set of skills. These fine people were champions through a 3-day production. It took them from weightlessly running, captured both in motion as well as still photography, to an outdoor all-night shoot racing through the streets of a fabricated city in the heart of LA, our hats off to them.

The editorial language and typographic style needed to be updated for a global audience. Working with Under Armour, we laid out seven languages across their major markets. This film, and the content we made around it, launched in unison around the world, playing in a Chinese airport the same time it was playing in LAX (as reported by our lead animator who recently took a vacation to China and literally saw the add at LAX, and then again when he landed in China). True story.

Under Armour didn’t come to us as a vendor to execute an idea, they came to us early as a creative partner to help them ideate and visualise what this campaign could be. It was a fantastic collaboration that encouraged open communication and iteration. It led to one of Under Armour’s most successful campaigns, selling out the initial stock of the UA HOVR Phantom in less than five days! The brand film resonated with Under Armour’s Chinese market, one of their largest, and led to a tremendous success story overseas.

They continue to do social activations all over major cities around the world. Under Armour's stock is on the rise, which is a testament to the product they designed and successfully launched. We’re proud to be working with them, and look forward to continuing to push UA HOVR forward as the groundbreaking technology it is.