Umbro Canada has appointed Toronto communications agency AmoebaCorp as its first agency of record, and tasked it to develop a 2012 marketing program featuring its new uniform for the Canadian national soccer team.
AmoebaCorp pitched against four other agencies during the review, which wrapped up earlier this month. This is the first formal agency partnership for Umbro Canada, a sportswear company.
In the past, Canadian marketing efforts for the brand were handled through Mississauga, Ont.-based sportswear distributor RMP Athletic Locker Ltd.
A lot of the advertising was “global in tone and voice,” said Umbro Canada’s marketing manager, Karen Stemmler, who joined the company a year ago to help build the brand in Canada.
The decision to hire an agency of record stems partly from Umbro Canada’s partnership with the Canadian Soccer Association, said Stemmler. The sportswear brand is outfitting Canada’s National teams until 2014.
Umbra will use this partnership as a way to make the U.K.-born brand more relevant in Canada, said Stemmler.
“Now that we’ve got an AOR, [the advertising will] really reflect what soccer means in Canada,” she said, adding that with Amoeba on board the Umbro brand will have a greater presence online and in retail.
The agency has experience in the sports and entertainment category, having worked on Nike, Sims Snowboards and multiple Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) brands – including a Toronto FC branding project.
“Amoeba really grasped at first blush what I was trying to do to get Umbro Canada defined as a football culture brand for this country,” said Stemmler.
AmoebaCorp will also handle media buying duties.
