Our objective for this series was to drive authenticity for the Under Armour brand among runners. For many runners, the right playlist can be exactly what you need to get you up and out the door and we wanted to give them the tools to make each run as impactful as possible. Focusing on our UA Run Crews, we wanted to give runners a glimpse into the personality and culture of these crews, and the cities they run in. Every two weeks, Under Armour released a new “Personal Records” playlist curated by a member of one of our Run Crews. We posted 8 medium-length IGTV videos featuring these runners where they discussed why they chose the songs they chose, and added personal anecdotes about how particular songs help them keep going strong.
Outdoor Running experienced a resurgence during the pandemic and participation increased by 117% among runners who ran 1-2 times per week pre-COVID-19. There was a 62% spike in the number of people who headed out for weekly runs with 78% of runners saying running made them feel more sane and in control.
However, despite the important role running played during the pandemic for many, it was also a challenging restrictive time for runners. Race cancellations meant runners had nothing to train for, group runs that satisfied runners’ socialization needs were less frequent, and masks, social distancing, and crowded paths created anxiety. Regardless of these challenges, running still provided people with one way to continue to explore during a time when everyone was locked up at home. With the uncertainty that continued to shroud 2021, we wanted to inspire runners to keep pushing themselves and continue getting better by tapping into the post-vaccine mindset and yearning for adventure.
For the Personal Records series our strategy was to create culturally relevant content that tells authentic athlete stories around music and how it impacts their running. We wanted to create engaging and emotive content that effectively highlighted the energy moments throughout the fall marathon season.
Total Video Plays: 16.2M
Total Link Clicks to Spotify Playlists: 73.6K
CPC across all episodes averaged 50% stronger than the current benchmark ($0.82 vs $1.67)
CTR across all episodes averaged above the current benchmark (0.51% vs 0.44%)
