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How Droga5 and Under Armour went from
being underdogs to game-changers
S
eeing hugely successful
companies now, it’s hard to
imagine how they began.
We know they didn’t get to
where they are overnight but after
brands have sold millions worth
of products and agencies have
won numerous awards, we tend to
paint an incomplete picture of their
struggles and humble beginnings.
In one of the sessions at the
Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity,
Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank
and Droga5 founder and CEO
David Droga took us back to when
they weren’t earning millions yet
and hadn’t quite figure out how
to grow their own companies.
The two have been longtime
partners, three years to be
exact. But Plank reveals that
getting to that stage in their
professional relationship
took a bit longer—a little over
four years, “winning things,
relationships takes a long time.”
And Droga didn’t fall short of
working on that relationship, too.
He was a constant visitor at Under
Armour’s headquarters, one of the
ways he did to earn the trust of brand.
“I wanted to build the company
[Under Armour] because it will also
build my company,” shares Droga.
The partnership with Droga5,
or any advertising agency for that
matter didn’t materialize early in
Under Armour’s journey. Plank
recalls that back then, they didn’t do
any advertising. They just directly
sold products to athletes and sports
organizations. Until they started
skipping pay checks, getting short
of funds to buy fabric that Plank
said he realized, “It’s time to get
our story out there.” He did this
by running a half-page ad on a
magazine. For a time, it worked,
putting money where it is needed but
it quickly went out, too. To address
this, Under Armour thought of
simply running another half-page
ad that’s only slightly different
from the first. To their surprise, it
did not yield the same results.
Under Armour acknowledged
the problem and that what they
needed was help from experts.
That’s when Droga5 came into the
picture. From a crappy client that
didn’t know how to work with an
agency, Under Armour has become
the number one sports clothing and
accessories company in America.
Though both companies have
achieved what other brands and
agencies could only dream of,
Droga says, “we all want to be
good. We want to do great stuff.
But it’s an evolving thing.” He
adds,”it’s fleeting. We have to earn
it. It takes as much time doing
something right as defending
something that’s just average.”
Droga also has a word of
advice for young creatives and
entrepreneurs out there who
are trying to work their way up,
“Just believe what you’re selling.
Seriously. It’s no coincidence or luck
that the best companies are those
that believe in what they’re doing.”
July - August 2016 | adobo magazine
57