Under Armour: Curry Mvp Activation

Credits & Description:

Agency: Droga5
Brand: Under Armour
Country: USA
Advertising Agency: Droga5, New York
Entrant Company: Droga5, New York
Media Agency: Droga5, New York
Pr Agency: Droga5, New York
Production Company: The Mill, New York
Senior Print Producer: Alyssa Dolman (Droga5)
Account Manager: Brett Niebling (Droga5)
Head Of Communications Strategy: Colleen Leddy (Droga5)
Group Strategy Director: George Bennett (Droga5)
Associate Account Manager: Scott Bubis (Droga5)
Senior Brand Strategist: Will Davie (Droga5)
Head Of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies (Droga5)
Senior Art Director: Devon Hong (Droga5)
Group Strategy Director: Harry Román-Torres (Droga5)
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer (Droga5)
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale (Droga5)
Group Creative Director: Tim Gordon (Droga5)
Executive Producer: Adam Perloff (Droga5)
Account Manager: Bola Adekoya (Droga5)
Group Account Director: Olivia Legere (Droga5)
Head Of Print Services: Rob Lugo (Droga5)
Senior Copywriter: Ben Bliss (Droga5)
Associate Broadcast Producer: Isabella Lebovitz (Droga5)
Broadcast Producer: Leah Donnenberg (Droga5)
Junior Strategist: Newman Granger (Droga5)
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer (Droga5)
Project Manager: Connor Hall (Droga5)
Executive Broadcast Producer: David Cardinali (Droga5)
Account Director: Lauren Solomon (Droga5)
Senior Copywriter: Tara Lawall (Droga5)
Senior Communications Strategist: Bryn Little (Droga5)
Designer: Toga Cox (Droga5)
Senior Art Director: Evan Schultz (Droga5)
Sr. Communications Strategist: Hillary Heath (Droga5)
Senior Print Producer: Joni Adams (Droga5)
Group Account Director: Julian Cheevers (Droga5)
Creative Chairman: David Droga (Droga5)
Campaign Description:
For years, brands have bought ad placements in NBA 2K video games, but no one in the 16-year history of the NBA 2K franchise had ever changed the actual game. Since this was the season Curry changed the game of basketball, we decide to celebrate his MVP by changing the video game to make video-game Curry as good as real-life Curry. That way, all 7 million weekly players around the world could honor Curry’s MVP by playing him in 2K with his MVP skills for the very first time.
Execution:
We worked with 2K developers to change the game code that all 7 million weekly global players use, raising Steph’s outside scoring ratings to the highest the game allows for 30 hours after Stephen won his MVP. Then, to get the word out, we thought it would be fun to imagine video-game Curry watching real-life Curry’s amazing season, reacting to Curry making all the unbelievable plays that video-game Curry’s programming wouldn’t allow him to do. So we made a film showing just that—video-game Curry being shocked at real-life Curry’s remarkable abilities, then giving a smile as we announce the event to the world. A 30-second version aired during Curry’s MVP acceptance speech, and a long-form version ran online.
Strategy:
Stephen Curry is the best and most popular player in the game, but people still weren’t connecting him to the Under Armour brand. We saw the perfect opportunity to change that by proactively planning for a consecutive MVP win. Curry’s transcendent play had led to an an ongoing cultural conversation among fans and media about how video-game Curry wasn’t as good as real-life Curry. But what if we could take action and fix this injustice? In doing so, we’d provide a clear role for the brand to play in elevating Curry’s story, and build the brand’s connection with millions of basketball fans. The strategy was simple: to celebrate Curry’s MVP, Under Armour would let fans play like MVP Curry.
Outcome:
19+ Hours of UGC content uploaded.52 countries covered mentions of Under Armour with Curry doubled.169 MM earned impressions.
Synopsis:
Last season, Stephen Curry easily won the NBA MVP while breaking the record for single-season three-point shots. But the really crazy thing is that this season, he was even better, shattering his own record, easily winning his second MVP and, according to experts at ESPN, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone, literally changing the way basketball is played. Problem is, no one foresaw how good he would be, including the developers of the world’s most popular basketball video game, NBA 2K16. And as Stephen’s season exploded, people began to notice that real-life Stephen was way better than video-game Stephen.