Under Armour
Kelsey Plum is all-in on Under Armour.
The WNBA superstar and 2022 league champion with the Las Vegas Aces inked a deal with the brand — which she says "prioritizes women, prioritizes investing in the future, and really prioritizes me, to be honest" in the final months of 2022.
Since then, she's been busy becoming one of the biggest faces of the brand's basketball arm alongside the "great company" of two-time NBA MVP Steph Curry and reigning National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston. And now, Plum is joining that duo in a cinematic commercial celebrating the 20th anniversary of Under Armour's iconic "Protect This House" campaign.
Under Armour
"I'm proud, and I think that, as a W athlete, representation matters," Plum told Insider. "For them to come to me and ask me to be in this campaign is an honor. This is a global campaign. Steph Curry is the best basketball player in the world, arguably.
"They could go a lot of different directions, and they choose to be inclusive," she added. "And I think that speaks volumes."
Plum adds that the brand has "really allowed me to give some ideas and feedback from my experiences to this point and allowed me to run with them."
AP Photo/Darryl Webb
One early result of those collaborative efforts is the Kelsey Plum Dawg Class, a three-day mentorship clinic that promises to help "bridge the gap between the college game and the professional game" for nine of the country's top women's college basketball guards. The camp is a direct response to Plum's own experience of feeling as though she lacked adequate time, resources, and support to prepare for the jump to the WNBA despite being the National Player of the Year and the first overall pick of the draft.
"One of the biggest reasons that I decided to partner with Under Armour is because we both want to make an impact in the game," Plum told Insider.
"When you decide to wear the brand, there's a feeling like you're going to battle, and that's what we're doing here," she added. "We're fighting for bigger things. As a woman, as a female in this industry, this is a gritty, uphill climb. And I think that that resonates with a lot of people."
Under Armour
That's the underlying message behind the revamped "Protect This House" campaign. It's been 20 years since the original ad "set people's souls on fire," as Plum says. The ad — which gave rise to the now-ubiquitous rallying cry, "Will you protect this house?" — galvanized a generation of athletes to fight for their beliefs and those who espouse them.
Two decades later, "we're still fighting a fight, but the fight looks a little bit different in terms of today's battles," the 2022 WNBA All-Star said.
Check out the full two-minute commercial — featuring Plum, Curry, and Boston, along with her reigning champion South Carolina Gamecocks — below:
