Under Armour | I Will What I Want | 2014
Kicking Away the Noise / Under Armour "I Will What I Want"
A world-famous supermodel punches a sandbag. Kicks it. On the wall behind her, cruel comments people wrote about her appear—and vanish with every hit.
The problem
Under Armour's image had always felt too masculine, and that was becoming a wall blocking the brand from the women's market. In 2014, the brand launched "I Will What I Want." Casting Gisele Bündchen was a surprising choice for a performance brand, and the announcement set the internet buzzing right away.
The insight
Droga5 turned that backlash into an advantage. CEO Sarah Thompson has said, "The reaction to that unexpected surprise became the very material we used to show strength that rises above outside voices." They built the campaign assuming the criticism would come.
The idea
Filming happened just two days after the endorsement deal was announced. In the room where Gisele works out, the walls display comments actually gathered from the internet—things like "Stick to modeling" and "Aren't you getting old?" But she never stops moving. And here's the trick: the comments were being scraped in real time, so the words on the wall were different for every visitor.
What happened
The campaign won multiple awards at the 2015 Cannes Lions, including the Cyber Grand Prix, and also picked up a Pencil at D&AD.
Afterthought
It hits a position that neither Nike nor Adidas holds, with real precision. It's tough and determined, but it's more than just that. What's striking is that the insight here—facing noise with strength—already existed back in 2014. David Droga has recalled, "When you tell a client you want to project negative comments onto the person themselves, they usually say no. But he believed in it." This is a piece where courage and timing came together perfectly.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2015
