Two Questions:
Is Under Armour launching the Curry 5 because Curry has been hurt more this year with ankle injuries wearing the Curry 4?
Why so soon?
I’ve been very critical of the marketing of Under Armour in regard to Curry. Just yesterday prior to any knowledge of the Pi Day Curry 5 release, which is on the UA website and is sold out, the shoe was limited to 314 pair, I wrote an article on the fact that UA did not market the Curry 4 in any way beyond allowing sneaker blogs and vlogs to show and discuss the shoe.
Under Armour Didn’t Make 1 Video To Market The Curry 4 | Marketing
I also discussed in this article via links to other posts on the site how UA’s inability to utilize video diminishes their presence in footwear. I don’t know the reason for the release of the Curry 5 so soon after the drop of the Curry 4. Brands never typically do that. Brands usually try to maintain a schedule and it takes longer for shoes to be delivered. The only time this hasn’t been the case is with Kevin Durant. Nike launched 4 different versions of KD’s signature sneaker from the KD9 to an updated KD9 and then the drop of the KD10 followed less than six months later. Could the rush on Curry’s footwear be a response to the endless stream of footwear worn by his teammate?
This could be the case considering the same strategy of less branding and marketing for basketball shoes has taken place with every brand, but more with Nike. The reason for Nike’s less is more approach is because they spent to outfit the NBA and their Nike Basketball is promoted daily via highlights. UA and adidas however are not promoted in the same way. adidas has countered this by launching the Harden with commercial spots that have run on primetime television and online. They pushed the shoes very hard on NBA OT the app of the NBA during All Star Weekend. Under Armour was silent and post NBA All Star they deliver a new shoe completely?
One thing that is different this time around is for this limited release UA created an actual video campaign. Which is a good thing. Here is the video.
The shoe is a sleek more lifestyle ready version than the Curry 4 was. The shoe once again captures UA’s design improvement in minimizing the logo and a much-improved overall aesthetic. The shoe doesn’t look bad for on the court or casual wear. Which casual is all it can be considering Curry is currently out due to… an ankle injury. The speed to production may have a lot to with ankle injury issues and wearability as the outsole on this shoe is a complete shift from the previous design and back to the wider base of earlier models of the Curry line. From the bottom shot of this outsole you can clearly see that the shoe base is much wider than the Curry 4. It could be that the Curry 5 as solid as it was for UA design wise, it simply wasn’t doing the job for the man in the Bay. Which means my frustration with UA is tempered because on Pi Day the brand accomplished two things, they corrected an issue for their athlete and finally decided to utilize video; although they didn’t run a campaign, but they didn’t have to. The shoe was limited, and the blogs carried the weight. A larger release is expected April 14th.
Inspired by the ancient Pi equation of “squaring the circle,” the Curry 5 was designed with one thing in mind – to continue helping Stephen achieve the impossible on court. Pi is the source of mathematical anomalies, equations that cannot be solved because of the transcendence of the number; an appropriate metaphor for Stephen…[He] shook up the status quo – smaller, quicker, and shiftier, with range that turned the court into a 40-foot playground. The Curry 5 embodies Stephen and the idea of being wired different; what it means to achieve the impossible, to break the mathematical norm and expectations of what a basketball player can be.