Analysis of Under Armour's 'I Will What I Want' Campaign Essay

This essay critically analyzes Under Armour's 'I Will What I Want' marketing campaign, launched in 2015, focusing on its success in targeting a new demographic and increasing sales. The analysis uses marketing communication theories, including semiotics, non-verbal communication, and communication models like the linear and transactional models. The essay examines the campaign's use of advertising, public relations, social media, and the integrated marketing communication mix. It explores the campaign's message, which aimed to redefine the brand's image and connect with women through influential figures and diverse media channels. The study highlights how Under Armour utilized various communication tools, including YouTube, Twitter, and other social media platforms, to effectively engage with its target audience and achieve substantial improvements in brand perception and sales. The essay also includes a reflection on how module content influenced the interpretation of the campaign.

Principles of marketing communications
1/12/2020
Student Number
Module Name and Number: UMKC8L-15-M
Word Count
Title of Campaign: “I will what I want”

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Principles of Marketing Communications
The essay aims to assess the ability to critically analyse and assess the topical communication
issue/campaign and also to determine and integrate a suitable selection of the essential
communication literature to offer the context, structure and objective support for the entire
conclusions. The essay includes the highly successful multi-channel trans-media campaign for
Under Armour, ‘I will what I want’ was launched in 2015 to resolve critical issue of the business
that says how does a brand long associated with the American Football win over a enormous new
target that outright discards brand. As per the original campaign, it includes how it has attained
the 28% sales increase as well as how it affects the perception towards the brand. The analysis of
the campaign has been done with the use of the theories as well as the different concepts. In the
end, there is a reflection for making the clear linkages among the critical evaluation as well as
the content of the module. The study of the module has led to influence on the interpretation of
the marketing communication campaign.
“I Will What I Want” campaign introduce by Under Armour show biggest women-focused
campaign forever. The campaign launched with the spot featuring Misty Copeland and this
advertisement is featured in TV, print as well as the digital content to inspire sporty women
(Macleod, 2014). The campaign message shows the story of the Under Armour who twisted their
Uber-masculine sportswear brand into sign of the feminine athletic inspiration. The campaign
begins with the truth about how their target methods then advanced into the big cultural vision
about what it refers to the women in twenty-first century (Angulo, 2015). In the study, this has
been found that it is interpreted into the inspired idea that associated the sturdy performance
values to true stories of the women today for attaining the success on their terms. In the research,

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this has been found that the campaign put brand at heart of the cultural conversation for
completing the comprehensive for attaining the overall turnover in linking with the new target as
well as an astonishing 28% sales improvement. Adding to this, the campaign becomes a recalling
call that women across the world could truly call their own. It has been found that the brand long
associated with the American football win over the massive new target that the outright rejects
the brand (Kirkpatrick, 2017). Under Armour was born out of the football in the year 1966 with
the motive to make all the athletes better. In the research, this is very clear that brand history
makes the brand to be associated with football. The brand was born in football which is
considered as ultimate alpha-male sport. Considering brand, own admission as preceding
attempts to request to the women as they were to just pink it and shrink it.
The campaign consists of the use of the different symbols, logos and non-verbal communication
message. In this, the semiotics is an investigation about the way meaning is created as well as
communicated to the audience. It is considered as the origins lie in the study of the signs as well
as symbols that form the meaning. The campaign “I Will What I Want” shows that the semiotics
that the brand wants to communicate is women athletic aspiration. As per the study, the
campaign positively twisted uber-masculine Under Armour into the sign of the female athletic
objective and they put brand at emotion of the cultural discussion (Greenberg, 2015). The
message which symbol of the campaign that company wants to leave is forming a campaign that
champions females who don't imitate to prediction of the hardcore sports apparel but whose
meaning of the athleticism is no less authentic which shows that women who will what they
want. Under Armour uber-masculine image has become a polarizing barrier to the women due to
which they started the campaign and showed the symbol.

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In the campaign, “I Will What I Want” Non-verbal message code which is considered as one of
the methods of the communication. The non-verbal communication consists of the facial
expression, posture, gesture, tactical stimulation, tone of voice, body movement and many
others. The campaign is all about girls and women whoever are involved in any of the profession
(Mirimar Los Angeles New York, 2019). The campaign includes the digital native in which they
target the people include trainers, family, friends, influencers and many others. The company
launched the campaign with the Misty Copeland's who presented their personal story on the
video by performing the activities which include the dance moves which shows there facial
experience and moves that shows women will what they want. Next, Under Armour signed
women to whom they would be judged supermodel Gisele Bundchen. The women are involved
in the campaign who displays the different physical activities that they perform. Non-verbal
communication is done in which they showed their body movement, facial experience, posture
and gesture (Smiley, 2015). All these left a message for the audience that the women brand
Under Armour is stylish as well as empowering.
In the campaign, the main motive is to communicate which is a systematic representation of the
process that helps in understanding the way communication can be done. In the campaign, there
is the use of the different types of communication which can be understood with the help of a
different model. One of the models that can help in the evaluation is a linear model which is a
one-way communication that provides the message through their message to the mass audience.

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(Source: Scott, 2017)
In this model, the sender sends the message and receiver get the same. As per the campaign,
Under Armour Company wants to send a message to their target viewers in which they need to
show that they empower girls for their profession. Along with this, now the brand is not only for
the male but it invites and considers their women as their new target market. The message is
communicated to the audience with the use of the different symbols as well as non-verbal
communication which include the movement of the body, facial expression and gestures (Scott,
2017). After this, the campaign gets launched into the different online media platforms which
consist of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and many others. In this, the audience gets to
know about every audience that they are offering products to women. After the one side
communication, the audience can have their perception and views which they want to share with
the brand.
Transactional Model of Communication is one model that is linked with campaign of “I Will
What I Want”. This model of communication presents interchange of the message among the
sender and receiver where each takes the turns to send or get the message.

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(Source: Keegan
and Rowley,
2017)
The image given
above shows the channel of feedback which shows that the sender sends the message and the
receiver gets the same. The campaign is available on the different channels which are presented
to the audience and on that they will give the feedback to the brand on their campaign (Scott,
2017). The campaign through the message to their audiences as they are shifting creatively from
Brawny footballers to the ballerina's customers to whom they are promoting through their
campaign. The brand has pivoted from its normal emphasis on the men's athletic apparel, UA
CEO Kevin Plank who broadcasted brand's biggest-ever females advertisement campaign in
New York. The campaign "I Will What I Want" adds to the well-known female athletes which
include Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn, soccer star Kelley O'Hara and tennis player
Sloane Stephens. Accordingly, customers have commented on the different social media
channels which helped the brand to get the views of the audience related to the campaign "I Will
What I Want".
In the research, this has been found that "I Will What I Want" campaign of the Under Armour is
communicated through different tools. The company has formed the integrated as well as the

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multi-channel stage with the social media at core. The company has used the marketing
communication mix for the campaign which is a set of the five tools that is used by the business.
The elements of the communication mix include advertising, public relations, sales promotion,
personal selling as well as direct marketing. Different channels have been used by the under
armour company to present the brand in front of the audience. The campaign is successful as it
has generated 5 billion media imitations and over $35 million in the earned media. In the
research, it has been found that the style and empowerment scores lead to improvement by 900%
and women's sales that is lifted the 28% sales of the company. In the study, it has been found that
Under Armour marketing mix strategy include in terms of the promotion include the 70-30 split
between the TV and the digital advertisement to an even 50-50 based on the research to reach its
target audience (Jay Chiat Awards, 2015).
"I Will What I Want" was formed by the company to celebrate all the women who defying the
predication as well as ignoring the noise of the outside judgements. One of the communication
mix element which is adopted by the Under Armour is Advertisement. It is a means of
communication with the users of the product or service. The advertisement can be done with the
help of print media or through TV commercials. The company has announced for the unexpected
partnership on the eve of the New York Fashion Week and everyone had something to say on the
campaign that is introduced by the company (Bacik, Fedorko, Nastisin and Gavurova, 2018). In
the print media, it has been found that for the print media there is a national coverage as well as
the arrivals by the Misty and Gisele across the mass network as well as a publication which
consist of Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, New York Times and Good Morning America.
Furthermore, Under Armour Company used the people’s real online remarks in TV
advertisement as well as a live experience.

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Under Armour company has made use of the different social media channels for promoting their
new campaign. This approach also brought the change in the perception of the customers
towards the brand. On the most widely used channel used by the company is YouTube.
According to the essence of the campaign, the journey of the Copeland and its launch on
YouTube leads to the impressive as well as the immediate response from the customers (Lee and
Kahle, 2016). The video got approx. 13 million views YouTube and on the website by the
customers. The campaign leads to an increase in the number of people by 70% of whom there
were the majority of the new customers that were women. Thus, this proves that an increase in
the women sales and re-establishing the brand for the women has not been a longer feat but
Under Armour has the same. However, it has been found that the company can do the same with
the help of their campaign and support from the women.
Under Armour Company also used twitter for promoting their products in the market. On their
twitter account the company has featured an all-star roster of the trailblazing woman talent which
involve Vonn, Copeland, O'Hara and professional tennis player Sloane Stephens (Fill and
Turnbull, 2016). On their account they presented creative elements that show the real movement
of women that they faced in their life, capturing the grace as well as the determination that shows
each of them in the personal trumps. On the twitter account, the company has introduced hashtag
@UAWomen (Under Armour, 2014). In addition to this, the company has also approached the
different social media channels which include Facebook and Instagram through which they want
to promote their campaign and want to reach to the maximum customers. The company has
introduced the app for the women whom they can sign up with the help of Facebook,
MapMyFitness or email, Under Armour Women (Houk, 2014). All these tools helped the
company to generate awareness for the female athletics and also offering the females with the

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tool to be the successful athletes. Communication tools are successfully contributing in
redesigning their business in which they appeal to the women and it is successful doing so by
telling the backstories of the talented female athletes as well as linking them to every other
athlete in the world who is performing any kind of work or sports. The campaign shows that
sports are no longer a man world as it includes women (Wirtz and Lovelock, 2016). The
campaign has motivated the company to beat the competitors who are in the race. Under
Armour’s profit is about to explode with the different purchases that are being made by the
young girls as well as the Women.
The analysis as well as the evaluation of the campaign I Will What I Want shows that Under
Armour Company who begins due to football and supported male football player and other
athletes is no longer a male supported company but now it supports women. Most of the
audience has made the perception for the brand that it promotes to the male athletes and its more
masculine brand (Abril and Rodriguez-Cánovas, 2016). However, the perception of the
customers has been changed with the emergence of the campaign I Will What I Want which
shows that the company is no more a brand for the masculine as it promotes the female. The
advertisement of the campaign leads to more awareness among customers for the brand. The
evaluation shows that the brand advertisement has been considered as successful in marketing as
well as the advertisement circles (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). Under Armour, customers
need to provide the response in which they got positive feedback from the customers which has
supported the brand to attain the high sales of the products that are for women.
In the end, this can be summarised that I Will What I Want campaign is most expanded
campaign introduced by Under Armour. This campaign got the attention widely in a short period.
The message which is communicated with the help of the campaign is that brand is no more male

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sports brand as it is now into the symbol of the female athletic aspiration. In campaign, the brand
revealed the true stories of the women who are involved in different activities including sports
which attracted the women across the world (Batra and Keller, 2016). The semiotics and non-
verbal communication message were used for this campaign by business which grab
consideration of audience. The communication mix strategy is adopted by the company for
which the different tools were used by the company through which they can promote their brand
to the most (Blakeman, 2018). On this campaign, the brand got attention and sales improved
which offered wide benefit.
Reflection
Being from the faculty of the communication arts, principles of marketing communication is the
module which I learned while taking the degree. From the learning, I can say that
communication is essential and crucial in the current era because it is witnessed that the digital as
well as commercial are one of the major parts of human life. I can relate to the fact that most of
the customers are connected with the digital media. This is one of the major reason due to which
the companies promote their campaign with the help of digital media. The different digital
marketing channels which are used by the company include advertising, magazine, social media
and many others. I witnessed that for the campaign, the company used the TV advertisement as
well as the print media through which they perform the promotion.
In the module, I gained the information about the different models of communication which are
used by the companies when they bring any campaign. I learn that the implementation of the
theories and frameworks are essential as it offers a deep understanding of the campaign.
Considering the entire case of Under Armour, I will be able to apply as well as adapt these

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theories shortly career. In this campaign, there is the implementation of the linear model of
communication, transaction model of communication, non-verbal communication and many
others. I gained the knowledge that all these theories, as well as a model, provide the way
through which the campaign of the Under Armour contributes in conveying the message to the
target audience. I found that the implementation of these theories in the case helps me to apply
the same shortly.
I learnt that my theory helped me to understand the critique of the campaign introduced by the
under armour in which they want to change the perspective of the audience towards the brand. I
learned that Under Armour begins with the masculine sports but now the image of the brand is
changed which is possible because of the campaign. I learned that the use of theories helps in
leaving an impact on the mind of the customers. The impact can be positive or negative as it
depends on the customers and their perspective towards the brand. I found that the brand can
present the real stories and true identities of the women who belong to the different profession
including dancers, athletes and many others. I learned the effective use of communication helped
the brand to present that they believe in women style and empowerment.

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References
Abril, C. and Rodriguez-Cánovas, B. (2016) Marketing mix effects on private labels brand
equity. European journal of management and business economics, 25(3), pp.168-175.
Angulo, N. (2015) Does values-based marketing really work?. Available from:
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/does-values-based-marketing-really-work/409200/
[Accessed 12th January 2020]
Bacik, R., Fedorko, R., Nastisin, L. and Gavurova, B. (2018) Factors of communication mix on
social media and their role in forming customer experience and brand image. Management &
Marketing, 13(3), pp.1108-1118.
Batra, R. and Keller, K.L. (2016) Integrating marketing communications: New findings, new
lessons, and new ideas. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), pp.122-145.
Blakeman, R. (2018) Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to
implementation. Rowman & Littlefield.
Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2019) Digital marketing. Pearson UK.
Fill, C. and Turnbull, S.L. (2016) Marketing communications: brands, experiences and
participation. Pearson.
Greenberg, K. (2015) Under Armour Continues Its 'I Will What I Want' Campaign With Bra
Focus. Available from: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/253957/under-armour-
continues-its-i-will-what-i-want-ca.html [Accessed 12th January 2020]