Under Armour

Building the Brand

“At its genesis, Under Armour was posed with the challenges that may face any new company in a crowded marketplace; how can it successfully develop its brand, create a buzz, and grow awareness in a power-brand dominated market. The power brands of Nike, Adidas, Russell, and Champion all were active in the market place at the time of Under Armour's entry into the active wear category. With sales of $5.3M in 2000, UA was just trying to gain a foothold in the market. Nike owned 21% of the athletic apparel market, including 32.5% of the shirt/miscellaneous tops market. Nike also ranked first in market share revenue among men (23.7%) and women (19.0%). Adidas was second in the market with a market share of 13%. Adidas was the leader in athletic apparel for boys (18.6%) and girls (17.1%) at that time ("Athletic apparel market ...strong showing," 2000).”

In the beginning, UA understood that the industry is dominated by giants. Nike, Adidas, Columbia, etc all have been in the market longer, were better capitalized, had most of the market share, and had complete product lines. Rather than meeting this head on, UA started with smaller market (first with college football teams), built a following, then used this to expand into larger markets. This strategy was used as template for expansion into footwear and other markets internationally. UA created inexpensive marketing strategies that aligned with the organization's overall brand strategy and helped it stand out in a crowded market. UA’s primary marketing initiatives included:

* athlete endorsement and product seeding

* word of mouth marketing

* popular culture

* product placement

UA was effective in building the brand, driven primarily by the strong marketing strategy, the high performance of the product (delivered what was promised) and by Plank and his early management’s sheer determination. In late 2005, the company went public and raised over $133M in its IPO. UA used...