“Leave Your Mark" is a celebration of those who understand that greatness isn’t in the destination itself, but in the journey there. It’s in the constant repetition of drills and training and preparation. It’s in the hundreds of hours spent drilling for every scenario imaginable—and when you’re an astronaut, you have to train for survival. Being a Mars astronaut is the most grueling athletic and mental endeavor we can imagine.

In our lead film, Under Armour celebrates that as they laud astronaut Mark Watney, and establish their role in equipping him for every step of the way as the Official Training Partner to the Ares Space Program.

The film seeks to show what Mark has gone through to be where he is, and the social posts and cut-down movies in the month-long social campaign back that up.

We first teased the release of the film across Under Armour’s social channels, with hints as to a new Under Armor signing. This got fans guessing and engaged in the film – how can this guy have such extraordinary achievements and yet I can’t work out who he is?

Then we made the announcement with the dramatic launch film. We showed everything Mark Watney had been through to equip himself for the extraordinary challenge ahead, and Under Armour as his equipment provider throughout.

We then kept the story alive with further mini films about Mark Watney’s training, posted alongside NASA-sourced facts about the realities of surviving at the peak of physical performance in space. This made helped build the credibility of The Martian’s world of 2035, and solidified Under Armor as on the cutting edge of human athletic achievement. All to Under Armour’s 127m social followers across four disparate platforms.

In the first 12 hours alone, the launch video received 1.5 million views, trended on Reddit and reached number one on Fast Company as the partnership garnered 97% positive organic social sentiment.

Moreover, Under Armour produced a range of The Martian–themed products as part of the partnership. 77% of sales of the range were to brand-new customers to Under Armour, proving that by giving the brand a role in a huge cultural moment, we were able to appeal in a credible way to a whole new audience.

The campaign also brought the movie to Under Armour’s 127 million social followers, and contributed to its #1 opening and $228 million (March 15, 2016) gross.