No Weigh Backpack -Product Innovation Launch

Under Armour wanted to introduce the No Weigh Backpack, the most innovative backpack on the market that can’t be compared to anything out there. This backpack was created to solve a true athlete need—one that competitors have yet to tackle impactfully.​

This was more than a product launch. It was an opportunity for Under Armour to carve out a white space in a crowded market and remind athletes who we are at our core: Innovators.​

However, Gen Z athletes have grown up in a world where product innovation alone is table stakes. They were born with smartphones in their pockets, and an endless number of options for moisture-wicking athletic fabrics. It takes more than a visionary product to get them excited. ​

The No Weigh Backpack gives Under Armour an opportunity to take a game-changing product and inject it into the cultural conversation of Gen Z athletes, drive brand heat, and shift perceptions of the brand. ​

Consumer Problem

A strong, healthy back is a crucial foundation for athletes to support their performance and injury prevention. Yet many athletes carry multiple bags each day to accommodate their packed schedules. Most of their bags tend to be overweight, which poses a risk of spine damage, discomfort, and alignment issues. ​

Whether they realize it or not, an athlete’s bag is potentially the most harmful piece of equipment they own.

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The Product

The No Weigh Backpack is the backpack that helps you feel weightless.

Here’s the truth—when it comes to backpacks, gravity is your enemy. Under Armour can’t totally remove the gravity, but they invented straps that do the next best thing: suspend it. The UA Suspension™ Straps in this bag form to your body and stretch as you move to balance the weight in your pack and absorb shock. The result: you feel more weightless.​

The Work

First! We needed a name that had some legs. With a product this groundbreaking we needed a name that could generate intrigue and tie back to the innovation itself. Through intense ideation and focus group trialing we organically discovered the play-on-words name No Weigh based on genuine, shocking reactions from high school athletes feeling the technology at work.

If athletes took away one thing about the No Weigh Backpack, we wanted them to know it helps you feel weightless from afar. Not all will have the chance to trial the product, so we needed to leverage visual devices that quickly and effectively register the feeling of weightlessness while create entertaining product demos and authenticating with athletes and influencers.

Product Development: Tobiah Taylor, Katie Carlisle, and Derek Campbell

Marketing: Megan Baker

Ideation and Creative: Uncommon Creative Studio, Brian Boring, Andrew Pierce, Rayna Jensen, Ron Delizo, Joe Sederquist, Marquis Harper, James Michelfelder, Rachel Murgyatoid, and Jeffrey Lash

Production: Lyla Robinson, Erinn Kahle

Retail: Christiana DiMatteso, Ashley McCleaf, Bryan San Pedro, Kris Hentnik, Marie Thomas, Jeffrey Lash, and SGK

Social: Leila Khadrane and Mekale Jackson

Digital and Media Activation: Nikki Kratochwill, Meagan Shank, Jihan Kuri, Molly Chalmers, Jami Macklin, Jesse Parker, Talia Grossbaum

Ops: Chris Bowerbank

and many many more who brought this project to life