Understanding the Varsity Athlete

Challenge

Gaining a deeper understanding of the varsity athlete for a sporting and athleisure brand to achieve clarity, differentiation and growth in the future.

A leading sporting and athlesiure brand came to us to better understand and connect with a younger generation of athletes. They wanted to uncover the values, lifestyles and understand the role of sport in their lives. This was then going to inform how the brand’s products and services could better enable the varsity athlete to perform their best, both on and off the field.

Approach

For our pre-game strategy, we first had the varsity athletes from across three markets (US, UK and China) do a pre-task activity and creating their own trading card of them and their sport. We wanted to uncover their inspirations, achievements and how they viewed their sport. Then, we used that as we went on field to play the actual game – virtual diaries! We dove deeper into their philosophy and outlook on life, what motivates and inspires them to achieve and be their best, who they were as individuals both on and off the field, and the importance of sport in their lives.

Impact

We were able to illuminate the importance of sport and gear within this segment and challenge the brand to think differently about these athletes and how they can become a valuable partner for them. We did so through a creative suite of deliverables – a sizzle film showcasing these young athletes via their real voices and real experiences, to an editorial-style executive summary deck highlighting key insights, to trading cards that they could develop into a full deck as they continued conversations with future young athletes.