“Defend the ‘Shoe” advertisements from Anduril Industries appear around Ohio Stadium as part of a sponsorship with Ohio State Athletics. Credit: Sandra Fu | Managing Photo Editor
The Ohio State football team is no longer the sole defender of the ‘Shoe.
“Defend the ‘Shoe” can be seen around the Ohio Stadium in white, bold letters with a black background, a stark difference between the scarlet and gray seen across the stadium — and a military defense company is behind it.
The Ohio State Athletics Department announced its partnership with Anduril Industries, a U.S.-based defense technology company, on Aug. 21. On Jan. 16, Anduril announced its plan to build Arsenal-1, a drone production facility next to Rickenbacker Airport near Columbus and about 20 miles south of Ohio State. The company expects to create 4,000 direct and 8,500 indirect jobs.
“Our mission is to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with AI autonomy and advanced manufacturing,” said Jeff Miller, Anduril’s vice president of communications.
“When it’s complete, Arsenal is going to produce autonomous defense systems in really large quantities, and it’s going to create, importantly, thousands of skilled jobs and serve as a hub for innovation training and economic growth in central Ohio,” Miller said.
In the press release announcing the partnership with the university, Ross Bjork, Ohio State’s athletic director, said the relationship with Anduril “goes well beyond a sponsorship.”
“Our missions are in alignment with supporting student-athletes and making a positive impact on the broader community,” Bjork said in the release. “We truly appreciate the Anduril leadership team seeing the value in Ohio State Athletics and thank them for their support.”
Anduril said in the press release that the defense company has a natural relationship with Ohio State Athletics since the university competes “at the highest standard of athletic achievement,” and Anduril “builds technology at speed and scale for the nation’s defense.”
Anduril placed over 40 “Defend the ‘Shoe” advertisements across the Ohio Stadium and have similar advertisements at the Schottenstein Center and other buildings on the athletic campus. The company also began publishing a 12-part series covering Head Football Coach Ryan Day and the football team’s season following a national championship.
At the Ohio State v. Texas game, the football team ran out of the tunnel onto a mat that said the “Defend the ‘Shoe” phrase above Anduril’s logo. Throughout the game, the megatrons would show the phrase and graphics of Anduril’s fighter jet beside live footage of the game, according to Anduril’s Instagram.
Anduril has released two videos and a trailer for its series on the Ohio State Buckeyes Facebook and on the Ohio State Buckeyes website. The first video garnered over 50,000 views on Facebook and featured interviews with Day and current football players Julian Sayin and Caleb Downs. The second episode has 36,000 views on Facebook and dives into the Ohio State v. Texas game.
John Mueller, a professor emeritus and expert in public opinion, said that with the number of advertisements today, people tend not to pay attention to new promotions.
“Americans are surrounded by this kind of stuff from the get-go, and they seem to be awfully good at ignoring it when they want to,” Mueller said.
Mueller said that it seems Anduril has secured considerable promotion in an industry that receives a large amount of money from the government but has significant competition. He said that enterprises like Anduril tend to come and go, but with strong advertising, they can do quite well.
“They’re able to get the right products to the right people, and sometimes it’s just plain luck,” Mueller said.
Mueller said companies consider advertising successful even if revenue increases by one percent, and companies want people to recognize their name.
Anduril is attempting to draw people’s attention by providing unprecedented access to the football team, Miller said.
“That feels really cool to have that type of view into the locker room that was never provided before,” Miller said.
The defense company partnered with Ohio State Athletics to first inform the Columbus community and the university population about Anduril.
“We’re now a member of this community, and we want to enter into it in a way where we’re giving the broader central Ohio community a sense of who we are and what we stand for,” Miller said.
Miller said Anduril wanted to introduce its company naturally to Columbus and Ohio State while still mentioning national defense, which is how “Defend the ‘Shoe” was created.
“Our number one priority when it came to the game day experience during football season was that it felt organic to the community of fans at the Buckeye games,” Miller said.
Anduril will then focus on hiring for Arsenal-1, the production facility, and implementing STEM programs for recent college graduates for a possible direct hiring pipeline, Miller said.
“In doing that program, we’re really focused on key engineering disciplines and giving new grads the opportunity for exposure,” Miller said.
In the post-football season, Anduril will advertise its company using Ohio State’s fight song, specifically the phrase “our honor defend.”
“We’re going to be using those two terms, defend the shoe and our honor defend, in a way to show up colloquially and organically that will start to hopefully tap into the way that students themselves are already talking about the athletic programs,” Miller said. “In doing so, hopefully [people will] be able to associate our brand, because you start to see it with repetition in such a focused and natural way.”
Online, there have been differing opinions on Ohio State Athletics collaborating with a defense company. Miller said Anduril is providing tools for the military to protect the country.
“It’s vital that the next generation of technologists and thinkers and leaders help shape what those tools look like,” Miller said.
Anduril uses artificial intelligence and virtual reality technology to build its military weapons. Around 20% of its staff are military veterans working on the equipment, according to its website. Anduril is partnered with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, to use AI to develop solutions for “national security missions,” according to a press release.
Anduril is also partnered with the U.S. and allied military forces, supplying weapons for Ukraine as well in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, according to their website.
Anduril founder, Palmer Luckey, announced in a CNBC interview that the company would become publicly traded this past June. However, Anduril is still privately traded.
