Case Study
Launching The Purpose-Led Curry Brand
Under Armour
The Challenge
During the Spring of 2020, Stephen Curry and Under Armour were planning the introduction of Stephen Curry’s own standalone legacy brand. They wanted to position the new brand as the first-ever purpose-driven footwear and athletic apparel brand with a portion of its annual revenue invested into communities to ensure equitable access to youth sports.
A successful launch would help the Curry Brand cement its purpose-driven mission and raise much-needed awareness of inequities in access to youth sports.
Under Armour came to Fenton to create the narrative backbone of its purpose-led mission and launch strategy while navigating the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the uncertainty of how or when the NBA season would start, and news cycles dominated by a politically-fraught U.S. Presidential election.
Our Approach
As strategists for social change, our job was to ensure that the Curry Brand stayed true to Stephen’s purpose-driven vision and led with impact.
We researched the issue of inequitable access to sport for youth and used those findings to inform our development of the brand messaging and narrative. We provided the Under Armour team with strategic counsel for how to shape the overall philanthropic approach of the brand and developed a comprehensive communications, messaging and PR plan for the brand launch.
Throughout the process, we provided ongoing guidance across Under Armour, SC30 and Eat.Learn.Play. Foundation teams to ensure that purpose remained at the forefront of the brand’s story at launch.
Impact
Curry Brand launched to much fanfare on December 1, 2020, GivingTuesday, with an exclusive feature on ESPN/The Undefeated in which Stephen tells his brand’s purpose-driven story. Additional coverage included an interview on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Instagram Live with President Barack Obama, and stories across sports, business, culture and social impact media, including Sports Illustrated, Fast Company, Bloomberg, CNBC, Market Watch, Triple Pundit and more.
Crucially, most media coverage included mentions of the Curry Brand’s purpose-driven mission to “Change the Game for Good,” and in many cases, additional details about how a portion of the sales revenue would support its purpose pillars to provide sports equipment and apparel to schools, coaching and mentorship in under-resourced communities and build safe places to play.
