UNDER ARMOUR - COFFEE & CULTURE
From "Sell-In" to "They Request Us"
Research & Insights | Cultural Education
Timeline: 2023
The Challenge
As Under Armour scaled globally, the marketing team recognized a needs for advanced cultural fluency, not performative DEI. They wanted to ensure that every campaign could authentically speak to the audiences it was designed to reach.
What We Did
To meet this need, we designed and launched Coffee & Culture — an immersive learning series built to move Under Armour's global marketing team beyond surface-level awareness and into genuine cultural understanding.
Each 60-minute session offered a deep dive into the lived experiences, values, and consumer behaviors of Black, Hispanic/Latino, and LGBTQIA+ communities — exploring not just who these audiences are, but what drives their loyalty, shapes their purchasing decisions, and determines whether a brand feels authentic or performative to them.
The series was designed to be conversational, not didactic — creating space for real dialogue, honest questions, and the kind of nuanced insight you can't get from a demographic report. By pairing cultural context with direct marketing application, Coffee & Culture gave the team the tools to move from intention to execution with confidence.
The Results
300-400 attendees per session
Board-level recognition
Shifted dynamic from "sell-in" to "they request us"
Let's Build Cultural Fluency Into Your Organization.
Under Armour's team went from checking a box to requesting the next session. If your organization is ready for cultural education that actually shifts how you show up, let's talk.