Championing a Century of Growth

What does a century of growth look like? Just ask Champion. Over the past 100 years they’ve become both an undeniable part of today’s pop culture landscape and an integral part of American apparel history.

To say that Champion is still growing is an understatement.

The commemorative anniversary campaign, 100 Years For The Team, is an exploration and celebration of teams across the globe – both old and new. Campaign elements feature every configuration of “team” imaginable, from DJs to skateboarders to basketball players. Teams were invited to apply to be featured in campaign videos and on the campaign website. The finalized videos are being shared through Champion’s Instagram account, with each one showcasing an individual team’s unique story.

Translating this momentous anniversary into a heritage-rich, year-long activation through retail executions was a chance that only comes along once every hundred years. We transformed the campaign into a resonating call-to-action by creating a series of connected brand moments that celebrate Champion’s 100th anniversary, encourage shoppers to participate with their team and to express – and ultimately fulfill with a purchase – their personal style.

The retail executions were a careful and thoughtful combination of activations including: wholesaler department takeovers, campaign elements in Champion stores, pop-up shops, and six windows in Macy’s Herald Square store on 34th Street in New York.

The Macy’s Herald Square windows captured the essence of the campaign with vignettes of four unique teams: motorcyclists, soccer players, DJs and basketball players. Champion often partners with artists and we wanted to translate the campaign’s essence of authenticity with a true piece of art. We captured the artistic spirit through hand-drawn illustrations of each team. The illustrations lead with Champion’s bold blue while adding texture and grit through red and white sketches, giving the windows a visceral and organic feeling.

“Wow! We are thrilled with the Champion 100 Year windows at Macy’s Herald Square. The Big Red Rooster team is a tremendous partner who took our brand campaign direction and artfully made it come to life.”
–      Christy Leimone, Director, Retail Marketing & Consumer Experience – Champion Athleticwear

The four illustrations highlight key moments in Champion’s history and elements representative of the four featured teams. The props and the flooring in each window connect back to the physical location where these teams get to work, like the grass of a soccer pitch or the concrete of the streets.

The first panel of the six-window display features the kick-off video from the campaign, adding light and movement to captivate perpetually in-motion New Yorkers. The final window showcases the iconic Champion C logo that is used across retail executions as the brand beacon throughout the campaign.

We continue to realize big ideas with Champion as the campaign extends through the remainder of 2019. What’s next?  Now we start to set our sights on what the following 100 years hold in store for this iconic brand.