We must Protect this House!!!

When you think of the game of football, what are the dominant brand names that come to your mind? If you are like me, there are numerous brands: Nike, Reebok, Russell, and now Under Armour is claiming its cut of the football pie as well. Under Armour is best known for its scientifically formulated undershirts made for all types of weather. However they are now integrating other apparel items such as gloves, headwear, shorts and their latest addition, cleats.

Under Armour has started to take off as a company within the past five years and a lot of this success can be derived from their unique and very specific marketing campaigns. One of their first national campaigns and still the most known is the "“Protect this House"” campaign. Their television spots for this campaign featured fictional football players competing in intense game and pre-game situations. Whether a play resulted in a big score or defensive stop, the tag line, "We must protect this house!" would always end the commercial. Under Armour used other media outlets throughout this campaign but the television spots were the most notable.

The "“Protect this House"” campaign received numerous accolades including Campaign of the Year from the American Marketing Association, Baltimore chapter, in 2005. The creative minds behind the scenes also received awards from the American Business Association in 2005; Steve Battista and Marcus Stephens were named Best Marketer and Best Creative respectively.

Their most recent campaign was launched prior to the NFL draft in April of this year and is designed specifically for the newest addition to their product line, performance cleats. "“Click-Clack"”, representing the last sound your cleats make on the concrete before stepping on the field, has been receiving a lot of air play on ESPN and other networks as well. Along with the success of the "Protect this House" campaign, Under Armour has now become an official supplier of NFL footwear. This allows players to wear their footwear while on the field and also give the company marketing and advertising commitments with NFL network, NFL.com, and NFL broadcast partners.

Under Armour’s final campaign is "Good-bye Girl"”. This campaign is centered on Heather Mitts, defender for the USA Women's National Soccer team and its focus is to promote their UA Women's line. Like the men'’s apparel line, the women's line contains both loose and tight fitting training gear as well as both cold and hot weather specific pieces. The television spots are much less dark than "“Click-Clack" or "“Protect this HouseÂ" but still focus on Under Armour'’s ability to hold up in all athletic situations. This is shown through a 30 second commercial of Mitts training in the gym and running on the streets.

Under Armour is a rapidly growing business and by using creative marketing campaigns, has made the Under Armour name a prominent brand in both football and other sports markets throughout the world.