The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2014–2015
Under Armour's 'I Will What I Want' recasts a ballerina as athlete — 5.9M views
Droga5 casts ballet soloist Misty Copeland reading the rejection letter she never got — then dancing — to redefine who counts as an athlete.
Under Armour · Droga5
What it had to solve
By 2014 Under Armour had built a solid women's business, yet women buying activewear often did not think of themselves as athletes. The brand needed to celebrate women who define success on their own terms, beyond a culture that lectured them on what to be.
How it works
In July 2014 Under Armour launched 'I Will What I Want', a women's campaign created by Droga5 New York. The launch film starred Misty Copeland, a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre and the first non-athlete the brand had ever signed to an advertising contract: she dances as a 14-year-old girl reads the rejection letter she never received — 'You lack the right feet, Achilles tendons, turnout, torso length and bust. You have the wrong body for ballet. And at 13, you are too old to be considered.'
The idea extended Under Armour's long-running 'I Will' slogan into a platform about defining success on your own terms. The campaign included digital and outdoor work featuring skier Lindsey Vonn, tennis player Sloane Stephens and soccer player Kelley O'Hara, a new site (IWillWhatIWant.com) and, in the later Gisele Bündchen phase, a real-time experience that pulled viewers' tweets into the video. Total spending on production, promotion and placement was estimated at nearly $15 million.
The Copeland film went viral: 5.9 million YouTube views by the time Under Armour submitted its 2014 Effie case, close to 10 million by 2015. The campaign won a 2015 North American Effie in Fashion & Style, helped shift women's perception of the brand, strengthened its women's business and expanded Droga5's relationship with Under Armour.
Why it lands
- It cast a non-athlete as the athlete, redefining the category: ballet was reframed as athleticism, so women who danced, kickboxed or spun could see themselves in the brand.
- The rejection letter made an abstract empowerment idea concrete and personal — the audience felt the resistance Copeland faced rather than being told about it.
- It inverted the brand's own pattern: Under Armour had always told elite athletes' stories, and telling a woman's story her way opened a market it had struggled to win.
- The campaign was built to participate: a hashtag, a dedicated site and tweet-driven real-time experiences turned viewers into co-authors of the message.
What it did
The launch film drew 5.9 million YouTube views by Under Armour's 2014 Effie submission and close to 10 million by 2015; the campaign won a 2015 North American Effie in Fashion & Style, shifted women's perception of the brand and strengthened its women's business.
What you can take
Tell the audience's own story back to them: a rejection letter voiced by a girl made empowerment concrete, and casting a non-athlete redefined the category rather than just the ad.
Since then
Under Armour kept the platform alive, launching an Armour bra campaign under 'I Will What I Want' in 2015, and Droga5's role expanded across the brand's categories. Copeland's rise to American Ballet Theatre principal dancer in 2015 made the campaign look prophetic, and the work is still cited among the decade's strongest examples of marketing to women.
Sources
- Effie Winner Spotlight: Under Armour & Droga5's 'I Will What I Want'
- Under Armour's New Campaign Aimed at Women Stars Ballerina
- Everyone wants a bit of Gisele #iwillwhatiwant #theonethatiwant
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