In time for the All Star Game this evening, Under Armour released a new spot for Under Armour featuring Washington Nationals superstar (and starting right fielder for the National League) Bryce Harper and his high school coach, Sam Thomas.
“Look, baseball’s a numbers game,” says Thomas via voiceover at the beginning of the spot while Harper drills a batting practice pitch over the right field fall. He goes on to list some impressive personal numbers for his best player: hitting a 570 foot home run at age 15; recording over 100 career home runs; elevating his on-base percentage to .460 last year; and, of course, being a four-time All Star.
“But kid, just remember,” Thomas says at the conclusion of the spot, as the camera zooms in on Under Armour’s Harper One cleats as the hitter pivots and releases a mighty thwack, “no number sounds as good as this.” The spot concludes with the tagline, “It Comes From Below.”
The approach is something of a mixed bag. On the one hand, while emphasizing the intense dedication to sport superstar athletes put in to get to where they are is nothing new, the numbers aspect at least makes the spot stand out. Unfortunately visual gimmicks like the scoreboard’s numbers changing to reflect the numbers Harper harps on are a bit much. That said, the pivot to the tagline works fairly well and watching Harper launch home runs is still some nice eye candy for even the casual sports fan. The campaign will continue this fall with spots starring Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, but for now the spotlight is squarely on the 23-year-old Nationals right fielder.
Credits:
Client: Under Armour
Campaign: It Comes From Below
Title: Numbers
Agency: Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Group Creative Director: Felix Richter
Group Creative Director: Alexander Nowak
Copywriter: Bryan Wolff
Art Director: Daniel Sumarna
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Executive Producer: David Cardinali
Associate Producer: Troy Smith
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Head of Strategy: Harry Roman
Strategy Director: Sam Matthews
Head of Communications Strategy: Colleen Leddy
Communications Strategy Director: Hillary Heath
Communications Strategist: Kathryn Ruocco
Strategist: Newman Granger
Senior Data Strategist: Anthony Khaykin
Group Account Director: Julian Cheevers
Account Director: Bola Adekoya
Account Supervisor: Lucy Santilli
Senior Project Manager: Courtney Kosup
Project Manager: Connor Hall
Client: Brand/company name
CEO and Founder: Kevin Plank
Chief Marketing Officer : Kip Fulks
SVP, Global Brand Management: Adrienne Lofton
SVP, Global Communications: Diane Pelkey
VP, Global Creative: Brian Boring
VP, Global Consumer Engagement: Jim Mollica
Senior Category Director: Jim Bel Bruno
Director, Global Marketing Operations, Process & Integration : Teresa Oles
Production Companies: Somesuch + Anonymous
Director : Aoife McArdle
Found Partner, Somesuch: Sally Campbell
Found Partner, Somesuch: Tim Nash
Managing Director, Anonymous: Eric Stern
Executive Producer, Anonymous: SueEllen Clair
Producer: Laurie Boccaccio
DOP: Steve Annis
Production Manager : Yianni Papadopoulos
Editorial: Final Cut
Editor:: Dan Sherwen
Cutting Assitant (NY):: Geoff Hastings
Assistant Editor (UK):: Leila Gaabi
Executive Producer:: Sarah Roebuck
Head Of Production:: Jen Sienkwicz
Producer (UK): Frankie Elster
Producer (NY):: Jamie Nagler
Post Production: BlackSmith
Executive Producer: Charlotte Arnold
Producer: Megan Sweet
VFX Supervisor : Iwan Zwarts
Music / Sound Design: Siren / Factory
Partner and Company Director: Sean Atherton