We’re not born into our sweat fam, we choose it. In 2022, we continued to build upon our success on YouTube by highlighting co-gender training stories that show inspiring, but relatable, athlete experiences through the framework of Goal > Struggle > Results. Our drive was to showcase Under Armour’s Human Performance System of TRAIN, COMPETE, RECOVER. We partnered with the creative agency, Mustache, to help bring this concept to life.
The goal of this 3-episode series was to cement UA’s position as a brand that makes expert training gear for all athletes. This came to fruition as SQUAD LIFE, a new Under Armour series that follows professional lacrosse teammates, friends and family – Izzy, Marcus, and Alex, as they each faced their own challenge to become even better. Together they pushed, they struggled, and they broke through their barriers to achieve their goals.
Each episode focused on one specific teammate in their journey to improve. This strategy allowed for the audience to get to know each athlete, their personal goals, how it stacked up to their sport, and showcase the friendship that tied them all together. The series would show the balance of body and mind required to elevate the players by re-energizing their training through a new routine and focus. The dynamic of the friend group would propel the episodes, filling their performance journey with fun, raw moments. Most importantly, we’ll see progress and real life results.
The first mission was to find such a gym crew. A group of friends who authentically workout together and push each other past their limits. Our criteria were a young, relatable, diverse group who were naturally relevant to the training space with a love for Under Armour. Finding such a gang proved challenging. After many months of searching for a brand-right team, we decided to look internally. Within our own roster of athletes, we reached out to Professional Lacrosse Player, Alex Aust-Holman, who had just the right teammates in mind. Fellow lacrosse-stars: her husband, Marus, and their best friend, Izzy.
Over a 4 week stretch, we captured both self-shot UGC type footage by the athletes, POV shots, and footage shot by our crew of workouts, recovery, and family bonding moments. The workouts were structured to be informative and engaging, but the real fun came from the Squad’s energy and personality.
SQUAD LIFE is now one of our most successful series on YouTube. Each episode out performed our View Rate Benchmark of 59.35%.
Episode 1: 2M Total Views, 78.98% View Rate
Episode 2: 1.9M Total Views, 84.01% View Rate
Episode 3: 2M Total Views. 82.22% View Rate
The second episode had the highest View Rate, 24.66% over the previous quarter’s performance on the platform. Average View Duration was at 5:22, 2.49 more than usual. Over 50% of viewers were between our target audience of 18-24 years old.
