For years, Under Armor has provided products to professional athletes in leagues such as the NFL, MMA, and Unrivaled. Now, the company wants to use athletes to appear in new promotional activities that go far beyond the typical TV commercial.
The sportswear company is launching Lab96 Studios, a new in-house content studio that will showcase its brand and products with content that closely resembles traditional content. Tyler Rutstein, senior vice president of global brand and Americas marketing and executive producer of the new studio, said the goal is to get more in front of younger Gen Z and Alpha consumers, moving away from traditional commercials inserted into TV shows.
“We’re kind of handcuffed to, ‘Do a 30-second spot. Do a 15-second spot.’ That doesn’t exist anymore,” the executive says. Under Armor is seeking “an open strategy that allows content strategy to evolve based on consumer habits and consumption across platforms.” In some cases, you might end up creating 30-minute YouTube videos or other long-form content with extensions built for various social media outlets. ” The studio also plans to help Under Amour partner with independent creators interested in coming up with ideas to boost the company among athletes.
The new studio made its unofficial debut in September with “We Are Football.” The short film features rapper Gunna, an NFL athlete, and the emerging star of women’s flag football. Other projects include a series focused on high school football in collaboration with Overtime featuring IMG Academy and St. Francis Academy, and a documentary series about women’s flag football with SMAC Entertainment. The studio also recently launched a baseball series on Boardroom. Plans are underway to build a new state-of-the-art studio and podcast space at Under Armor headquarters in Baltimore.
Under Armor isn’t abandoning traditional advertising, Rutstein said. At the same time, he says, “You can take a movie that’s three to five minutes long and still find a way to insert it into a 60-second NFL commercial, right? That 60-second linear TV framework is just part of a much larger content ecosystem.” “The starting point used to be, ‘We have to make a great 60.'” Now it’s, “How do you make a great movie, no matter the length?” And if you need to tailor it for linear TV, we have the exact specs and what you need if you want to serve ads from Instagram. ”
Lab96 Studios’ name comes from the early days of Under Armor. The company was founded by Kevin Plank in 1996, and its early employees felt like they were constantly experimenting.
