Under Armour's What's Beautiful competition utilizes social media to challenge women
April 25, 2012
By Guest Blogger Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk
I recall being first introduced to the Under Armour brand by my daughters. Both were involved in sports during their entire school years, specifically softball. I somehow had coerced my husband into coaching their coed "rookie" league team and he ended up coaching softball for 10 years.
We spent many cold spring days out on the fields... the girls playing, Kevin coaching and me watching. The Under Armour shirts worked perfectly under their softball uniforms as well as on the coach. I was lucky enough to sit under a blanket when needed on top of wearing my Under Armour.
Under Armour has just launched a campaign marketing specifically to women. “What’s Beautiful" is based on "a competition to redefine the female athlete". They are inviting women to show the world what beautiful really is and declare a personal fitness goal. The three women who push it the hardest and farthest will become the new faces of Under Armour Women and have their lives sponsored for a year. Here's their introduction video:
There are 19 Under Armour Challenges in three categories; Drive, Compete, and Influence. One has to be completed first and the remaining 18 can then be completed in any order the participant chooses. There will also be opportunities to go above and beyond the challenges. The final three will be declared the new faces of Under Armour.
Of those who complete the challenge, Under Armour will choose 10 finalists which will be announced on June 26th. They will be judged by who documented the most impressive, inspiring and monumental journeys. Then UA judges will select two women and one will be chosen based on a public vote. These three winners will receive a nutritionist for a year, as well as sessions with celebrity trainers and ample Under Armour swag. They will potentially be utilized in all of UA's marketing channels including TV advertising. All 10 finalists will receive $1,000 in gear and will become part of the Women’s Advisor Group to make appearances for Under Armour.
UA is heavily utilizing both its Facebook and Twitter page, @UAWomen, to promote the competition. They have included this image as their Facebook cover photo. I'm a little surprised because Faceook Timeline guidelines clearly state you cannot include any call-to-action in your photo and this clearly does. Anyhow, when a participant first registers they have to Like the UA Facebook page. As they say, if you're competing to be a UA spokesperson, you have to at least Like the UA women's Facebook page.
Once registered, participants can choose to follow other fellow competitors that may have similar goals as theirs. They also have the choice of posting their goal on their Facebook timeline and tweeting it. Currently there appears to be quite a few women who have registered already and who have uploaded videos of themselves.
So what do you think of this marketing campaign? I think it's pretty interesting and unique. I just declared a goal and may continue to participate and see how this goes. Not that I want to be a spokesperson for UA. I just would like to lose a few pounds and get rid of some of this body fat around my "core". We'll see.
Good luck to all the women athletes that are participating. I'm interested to see who the final 3 will be. Let us know if any of you decide to participate as well.
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