Under Armour’s mission is to make athletes better, and our professional run teams are one way to advance this mission, support our athletes, and show we are a brand for runners.
In Fall of 2020 we introduced our first elite pro run team—Dark Sky Distance—who train in the distance running hub of Flagstaff, AZ. The newly rebranded UA Mission Run Dark Sky Distance is a team of best-in-class, middle and long distance runners pursuing championship aspirations at the highest levels of competition. The team is coached by Stephen Haas, who has been an agent for professional track athletes for 10+ years and has worked with coaches and athletes from professional training groups across the US.
In 2022, our pro run athletes were training for the US Championships with the ultimate goal of qualifying for the World Championships. The goal of this 4-part YouTube series was to create content that authenticated Under Armour as a brand for runners by tapping into one of our greatest untold stories to date—the athletes who train as UA Mission Dark Sky Distance on their journey to compete on the national and world stage.
The overall strategy of this series was to show the fierce dedication and sacrifice that it takes to reach the top of the sport, while also highlighting the location they train in every day. We immersed ourselves in the culture of the team to lift the curtain for viewers and show how much goes into training and racing for our professional runners.
Mission 01: Altitude: Live high. Train low. In Episode 1 of Chasing Worlds, we went deep with UA Mission Run Dark Sky Distance to talk all things Flagstaff, AZ and altitude training.
Mission 02: Trials: One goal: survive and advance. We followed the American athletes of UA Mission Run Dark Sky Distance on their build-up to race day at the USTAF Championships.
Mission 03: Race Day: The world is watching. We went behind the scenes with Neil Gourley and Katie Snowden of UA Mission Run Dark Sky Distance as they competed for Great Britain at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, while also navigating COVID diagnoses.
Mission 04: Reset: Reset, reflect, refocus. After a busy summer of racing, we caught up with the athletes of UA Mission Run Dark Sky Distance to hear about their goals for the seasons ahead.
This series garnered 4.4M Total Views across all 4 episodes on YouTube.
The View Rate across all episodes averaged 73.36%, which is 24% stronger than the benchmark for the Under Armour YouTube channel.
