Park City, UT – Under Armour’s “I will protect this house” campaign should be pretty familiar to anyone who is a fan of the NFL. Now Olympic gold medalist and three-time Audi FIS Alpine World Cup overall champion, Lindsey Vonn, has entered the house.nThe new campaign, however, doesn’t focus on gold medals or World Cup titles, it illustrates the buckets of sweat it took to reach the highest level of sport. It shows Vonn, Olympic track hopeful Monica Hargrove, and USA Soccer national team member Lauren Cheney doing everything they do outside their sport.
“Working on this project was something that was easy for me to engage in because I pretty much live the campaign,” said Vonn. “At every aspect Under Armour involves athletes and that includes their marketing campaigns. I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of something so inspirational.”
For Under Armour, the decision to involve Vonn in the campaign was easy.
“What we love about Lindsey is how naturally she connects to the core values of UA Women,” said Adrienne Lofton, Brand Senior Director, Under Armour. “Her strength, determination and commitment to training are an inspiration not only to female athletes, but to the athletic community as a whole, regardless of age or gender.”
Last winter Vonn collaborated with the U.S. Ski Team partner on a 2010 ColdGear campaign that featured what she described as some “pretty cool hydrolic technology,” resulting in mainstream media placement for the Vancouver star. The spot was a lot of fun, said Vonn, but it didn’t make her work all that hard. This time around, that has definitely changed.
The new spots, shot during over what Vonn called a “very long and exhausting day” feature her lifting weights, standing on a balance ball, and jumping over benches. No snow, no skiing, just sweat.
“We did take after take of me doing what I do in the summer. It was about equal to a really hard day in the gym and I was super tired when we finally wrapped,” said Vonn. “But I have to give Under Armour all the credit, the hard work paid off. The commercials look great and they hooked me up with a massage after we were done shooting.”
It may be NFL season, but don’t expect Vonn to be couch surfing this Sunday. She spent the last three weeks on snow in Chile packing in the miles with her teammates.
“The summer is always gone before I know it. Soelden is only a month away. I’ll be ready, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” she said. “This is a World Championship year, the Olympics will be coming back around in 2014 and I’m definitely skiing at Vail when the World Champs come back to the U.S. in 2015, then maybe I’ll rest.”
The competition season opens Oct. 23 with the traditional giant slalom on the Rettenbach Glacier in Soelden, Austria with the World Championships slated for February in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Beaver Creek and Vail, Colo., were recently tabbed by the FIS to host the 2015 Worlds marking the first time the premier event will be staged in America since the Vail Valley hosted the 1999 Championships.
Prior to Soelden, Vonn has planned a stop in Boston for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s New England Ski Ball, a fundraising event to be held Wednesday, Oct. 6 at the House of Blues.
You can check out the new TV spots online at www.facebook.com/UnderArmourWomen.