Under Armour has recruited American Ballet Theatre ballerina Misty Copeland as the new face of the “I Will” trademark, in the “I Will what I want” advertising campaign. Misty Copeland’s story is used to celebrate the inner and outer strength of women and highlight Under Armour’s commitment to designing elevated products for athletic females. Online at IWILLWHATIWANT.com, the campaign also includes world champion downhill skier Lindsey Vonn, US national soccer player Kelley O’Hara, professional tennis player Sloane Stephens, pro surfer Brianna Cope and yoga teacher Kathryn Badig. Creative elements depict real moments of will that each woman has faced in her life, capturing the grace and determination that defined each woman in her personal triumphs.
Misty begins to practice as the camera lingers on small details of her form, how her muscles shift with each slow and graceful movement. A young voice is heard reading a ballet academy rejection letter from when Misty was 13 years old, at the start of her career. All the perceived flaws of the young dancer are listed, including the line “you have the wrong body for ballet,” underscoring Misty’s perfect form while on pointe shoes, slowly pirouetting. All at once a heartbreaking juxtaposition between her beautiful reality and the difficulties she faced to achieve it is created.
Unlike the copy read aloud in the ad, Ms. Copeland said she never received a rejection letter that so starkly enumerated the reasons she was ill suited to be a ballet dancer. But she said that it accurately encapsulated the resistance she had faced throughout her career.
“Once I hit puberty I experienced all of those things,” said Ms. Copeland, who in March published a memoir, “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina,” written with Charisse Jones. “I was told I had the wrong body type, to lose weight, that I had to lengthen because I was too muscular and that my bust was too big.”
The digital campaign centers on the launch of a new mobile experience, via iwillwhatiwant.com, available first on iPhone and iPod Touch on the App Store, and coming later to Android and emerging wearable device platforms. The digital experience will serve as a community for women to track, analyze, and share their fitness and athletic lifestyle. Vonn, Copeland, O’Hara, Stephens and other Under Armour athletes will each actively participate, providing consumers with unique insights into their day-to-day activity and motivations.
Credits
The Will campaign was developed at Droga5 New York by creative chairman David Droga, chief creative officer Ted Royer, creative directors John McKelvey, Hannes Cliatti, Karen Land, Casey Rand, art director Alexander Nowak, copywriter Felix Richter, chief creation officer Sally-Ann Dale, head of broadcast production Ben Davies, group brand strategy director Donny Jensen, brand strategy director Zach Foster, senior communication strategist Alex kniess, group account director Julian Cheevers, account director Lauren Smith, account manager Scott Sullivan and agency producer Ben Davies.
Filming was shot by director Johnny Green via Reset with executive producer Jeff Macdougal, producer Bettina Schneider and director of photography Kasper Tuxen, choreography by Marcelo Gomes
Editor was Tom Lindsay at Trim.
Post production and visual effects were produced at The Mill by executive producer Sean Costelloe, VFX producer Alex Fitzgerald, shoot supervisor and 2D lead artist Richard Lyons, 3D lead artist Christian Nielsen, 2D artist Liz Berndt and Krissy Nordella, 3D artist Justin Kurtz, colourist Fergus McCall and production coordinator Alex Bader.
