...Under Armour 1 Under Armour Case Study Jason Miller West Virginia University Under Armour 2 Executive Summary: The beginning of 2009 meant a new beginning for Under Armour. This new beginning brought the Under Armour product line full circle with the addition of a line of running shoes. “We're dead set on becoming the world's No. 1 performance brand and running is a part of that," said Steve Battista, senior vice president of brand at Under Amour (A.P., 2009). Under Armour had the following to say in a press release dated December 8, 2008: “UA Run footwear launches at retail on January 31, 2009 and includes four road shoes: the UA Apparition™, UA Illusion™, UA Revenant™, and UA Spectre™, and two trail shoes: the UA Chimera™ and UA Mirage™. Each shoe is specifically engineered to maximize the performance of today's generation of professional, collegiate, high school and amateur athletes who are running as a sport or incorporating running as an essential component in their training regimen” (uabiz.com, 2008). Under Armour wants to provide a superior running shoe for all athletes that aligns with the current brand positioning of UAs other products which is performance and authenticity. “The foundation of Under Armour's first-ever running footwear collection is the company's new proprietary technology called Cartilage™. “The independent suspension system serves as the "connective tissue" between a runner and his environment to enhance performance and provide an exceptionally...
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...for resources will increase as these resources become increasingly scarce. Coupled with emerging trends, such as customization, a push to be closer to multiple markets, and shifting labor markets, Nike sees a new opportunity to create business growth for the future. A big aspect of Under Amour’s growth strategy is expanding abroad, which also ties into how they plan to manage competition. Under Armour has established a solid position in the United States and Europe is a big opportunity to continue expanding. By expanding in Europe, Under Armour hopes to try and gain some market share from Nike, who is their largest competitor. Under Armour may need to adjust its messaging for Europeans, who are less impacted by its traditional football and baseball based marketing. Nike has a slight advantage because it is coming at Europe from a running and basketball perspective, which are much more international sports. Both Nike and Under Armour are very focused on innovation. With the industry that they are in they almost are forced to focus on innovation in order to keep up with the competition and customer demands. They also are both focused on growth, but from completely different perspectives. Under Armour has just gotten into the global market and its international sales are only about 5% of total revenues so...
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...Cycle – Under Armour Jenifer Miles BRM / 353 April 18, 2016 Ms. Queen Mack Product Life Cycle – Under Armour Under Armour, an athletic apparel company is approaching the maturity cycle of the product life cycle module. The company emerged in 1996 by creator Kevin Plank with a plan to provide a shirt with the helped regulate the bodies temperature and allow for better athletic performance. Mr Plank carried the growth of the company offering the unique designed "Cold Gear" t-shirt from the trunk of his car until they outgrew their in-home warehouse in 1998. ("The Business Of Under Armour", 2016). The company gained its initial public exposure when they were a part of the NFL based major motion picture, Any Given Sunday. As the company has achieved success, they have launched various athletic gear to accommodate multiple climate situations and various sports activities. Shoes and accessories have been built into the product line leaving the company at its peak but in seek of what to do to maintain continued growth. Under Armour Marketing Strategy Under Armour has successfully found their place in the athletic gear market and have also successfully set up both corporate and brand sponsorship with athletic teams and players. Getting to such a healthy place in the market has taken the company 20 years but the next step is to avoid a decline and seek continued growth. Obtaining this increase will take the company implanting new marketing strategies...
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... Introduction Under Armour, Inc. was founded by Kevin Plank, a former University of Maryland football player, in 1996. The company’s mission is “to improve all athletes through passion, design, and relentless pursuit of innovation” (The Business of Under Armour website, 2016). Plank had a simple plan to make a superior T-shirt. A shirt that provided compression and wicked perspiration off your skin rather than absorb it (The Business of Under Armour website, 2016). All of its products are designed with the athlete in mind. The company has developed different product lines for athletes to be used according to the seasons of the year. They include Heat Gear®, Cold Gear®, and All Season Gear®. Other product lines include footwear for men, women and youth and accessories, including headwear, bags, and gloves. Kevin Plank started Under Armour, Inc. using $20,000 of his own money, $40,000 from credit, and a $250,000 Small Business Loan (Lyster, 2006). The company has now developed into a corporation that serves not only the U.S., but also over 80 countries around the world including, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Under Armour, Inc. is one of the fastest growing athletic brands. According to a Sterne Agee and SportsScanInfo report, in 2014, Under Armour replaced Adidas and took the No. 2 spot in the sportswear brands in the U.S. The company continues to grow more and more each year. With such rapid growth, it is imperative for Under Armour to continue to implement...
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...Comparing Marketing Strategies Puma and Under Armour The sport companies must very careful to develop good marketing strategies, because nowadays among of the companies are very competitive like Puma and Under Armour. A good marketing strategy must enable business reach the target or the goals. There are many strategies that the companies want to clear their objective like pricing strategy, product strategy, promotional strategy and distribution strategy. Pricing strategy is a counting way to setting price of the products and this strategy also the most difficult decisions that the company must do. Knowing this strategy means know about the cost of products and services, how much profit that the company will earn, and how many demand that the company’s customers have. Furthermore, product strategy is preparing and planning a product before it launch into its intended market. A good analysis that will be needed by companies to get predict about the market and business that can effects the products the companies will sell. Next, promotion strategy is the way to attract or to pull more customers by advertising or some range technique that can reach the costumers. Lastly, distribution strategy is more directly to where the companies are going to sell their product and where it is produce. This paper will contain about compare and contrast between Puma’s and Under Armour’s way of developing their marketing strategy on the product, price, promotion and place. First of all, Puma...
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...Nitendo Situation: Under Armour is an innovative company that makes performance athletic gear, ranging from underwear to camouflage hunting wear. The majority of Under Armour apparel is made of the company’s moisture-wicking and heat dispersing fabrics, which help keep moisture away from the athlete during athletic training, exercise, and performance. Under Armour products are available through internet sales, catalog sales, and retail stores both nationwide and internationally. Under Armour is the leading “compression”sports apparel brand. Under Armour is currently trying to increase their competitive advantage through innovation and introducing new products that will keep faithful customers coming back to their brand and attract new ones as well. Newproduct lines include “Charged Cotton” (Barrie,2011) and “Cold Black” (Walter, 2011) Complication: Currently, the primary challenge for Under Armour is the ability to maintain a focused-differentiated marketing strategy in a saturated market with huge competitors such as Nike and Adidas. Bothof these competitors have the resources and capital to counter Under Armour with comparable products at lower consumer prices. Under Armour’s lack of intellectual property(patents) are a weakness for the company. Currently, Under Armour does not own any patents on their products. This has opened up the market to larger competitors, such as Nike and Adidas. The company also relies heavily on third-party...
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...Nike and Under Armor. Nike is more known for their basketball apparel. Under Armor has increasingly capture more customers through sales of sports products, however they’re looking to capture more profit shares in the basketball apparel division. This paper will go into detail how the selected product group can use marketing information to differentiate itself to gain an advantage over the competitors, customer-oriented promotions. The companies’ strategic manner will be analyze similar products to see how they differentiate themselves and the most effective advertising medium for the company within the selected product category. Nike and Under Armour were started by ex-athletes. Having participated in athletics, the owners of these two companies, believe in putting the consumer first. Nike’s version of putting the consumer first was based on comfort.(Moon, 2014). Nike wanted to create comfort in all of their apparel for the consumer. Under Armour believed in making shoes and apparel that keep athletes dry while competing on the field of play. When athletes compete on the field of play they sweat through their shoes and clothes causing them to become heavy from the sweat soaked into the fabric and shoe insoles. Nike’s promotional strategy is best known as “Swoosh” or “Just Do It. Nike’s promotional strategy of “Just Do It” slogan was to show all competitors that Nike consumers have out trained, out ran achieved goals far beyond one could imagine. Under Armour promotional...
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...Case Study: Under Armour 1. How strong are the competitive forces confronting Under Armour, Nike, and The adidas Group? Do a five- forces analysis to support your answer. The analysis of the Porters five forces are very important to business entities. Based on the analysis a business can evaluate their current position and positions that they plan to progress towards as it relates to the industry they are operating in. The following is my five forces analysis of the competitive forces confronting the companies that operate in the industry that Under Amour, Nike and Adidas operate in. Competitive Rivalry: There are many companies in the sports apparel, footwear and accessories industry, such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Champion, New Balance etc. just to name a few. Many of the company’s competing in the industry offer a wide variety of similar products and each is trying to establish its brand as the brand for customers to commit their money and loyalty towards. What is obvious right away is that Nike and Adidas are Under Amour’s two biggest competitors and they have the highest percentage of market share. All three companies are established, have good resources, strong finances, sound marketing plans and popular celebrities that they can use to endorse their products. Therefore I think it’s safe to say that competitive rivalry in the industry is pretty strong. Supplier Power: The supplier power in the industry is low because there are many manufacturers...
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...Running Head: PROMOTIONAL & ADVERTISING STRATEGIES: NIKE vs. UNDER ARMOUR Promotional & Advertising Strategies: Nike vs. Under Armour Contemporary Business March 8, 2015 Promotional strategy can determine a company’s success. Promotion, according to Kurtz, is the function of informing, persuading, and influencing a purchase decision (2013). Throughout this paper, I will compare and contrast promotional strategies between two major sporting apparel companies: Nike and Under Armour. I will also show how pricing decisions of each company has resulted in competitive gain or loss. I chose to write about Nike and Under Armour because they are two major sport apparel companies competing to win consumers over. Even though Nike is the “big dog”, and Under Armour is the “underdog”, both companies have phenomenal marketing strategies. Marketing managers for both companies promote through television, radio, internet, direct mailings, and newspaper and magazine ads. This is called integrated marketing communications or IMC (Kurtz, 2013). Nike has come up with a new product and marketing strategy aimed at finding ways to capture the woman’s sport apparel market after years of failed attempts (Warner, 2005). After interviewing different women, Nike found that most women want a sports outfit that has cross-functional uses. One consumer stated that she wants a nice outfit that’s suitable for hanging out with friends, wearing it to work, or simply to...
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...Under Armour first quarter of the New Year started out with a bang. According to the financial reports released at the end of the first quarter, Under Armour experienced a growth of about 36% in net revenue (Under Armour 1). There are many reasons as to the tremendous quarter growth of the company, but it is Under Armour’s motto: “innovation around fit” that makes this company and its products unique in the sports world. The company developed new products that have made them stand out in new sports markets, such as baseball and football. In 2014, Under Armour released a new performance shoe line called UA SpeedForm, which according to their 2013 Annual Report, “is the first true performance running shoe made entirely in a clothing factory and is a game-changing innovation that has unlimited potential” (Annual Report) By creating innovation in their products and on the field, Under Armour is paving way for higher net revenues every quarter. Under Armour currently is changing the way they distribute their products. The usual line of distribution for the company is wholesale, comprising 68% of its net revenues (Annual Report 4). While this composes the majority of the company’s net revenue, Under Armour is venturing into the direct to consumer channel through their factory house stores. Here is where the consumer can experience the brand that is Under Armour. Under Armour’s plan to further expand the business is to venture out into more international markets. Currently, Under...
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...MQM 385 Summer 2008 Under Armour Strategic Analysis Team 2: Paul Huston. Ryan Marchand. Eric Webster. Rachel Eberle. Irén Ganèva. Lamar Wooley. Margaret Kobel. Table of Contents Executive Summary ___________________________________________________________2 External Analysis _____________________________________________________________3 Value Chain…………..…………………………………………………………………….3 Key Success Factors ……………………………………………………………………...7 Porter’s 5 Forces ……………...……………………………………………...…………..9 External Analysis Conclusion …………………………………………………………...12 Opportunities in the environment …………………………………………….....12 Threats from the environment …………………………………………………...14 Internal Analysis_____________________________________________________________16 Financials & Cash Flow Analysis ………………………………………………………16 Cash Position ……………………………………………………………………16 Financial Indicators ……………………………………………………………..16 Cash Flow ……………………………………………………………………….16 Internal Analysis Conclusions …………………………………………………….…….17 Strengths ………………………………………………………………………...17 Weaknesses ……………………………………………………………………..17 Competitive Strategies ________________________________________________________19 Current Corporate Strategy ….………………………………………………………..19 Integration position ……………………………………………………………...20 Diversification position …………………………………………………………21 Current Business Strategy ….…………………………………………………………23 Product positioning ………………………………………...………...…………23 Current Functional Strategy …….…...
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...Under Armour Case Study Source: Hogan, 2013 Table of contents Detailed Timeline 3 Business and Corporate Level Planning 4 Brief Summary of the Company Situation in their Competitive Environment, Issues they Face and Clear Problem Statement to Analyze 6 Key Leadership 8 Types of innovation and Evidence of Entrepreneurship 10 Global Presence and Effects 11 Ethics - Examples of Social Consciousness/Corporate Social Responsibility 12 Responsible Wealth Creation 14 Engagement and Plan Alignment & Corporate Culture 15 Wild Card 16 Internal Analysis 17 External Analysis 20 SWOT Analysis 24 Recommendation 27 Bibliography 33 Appendix 37 Team Member Roles 46 Detailed Timeline It all started in 1995 when Kevin Plank, the special teams captain on the University of Maryland football team, noticed that the cotton T-shirts he and his teammates wore underneath their pads were always soaked and filled with sweat (Under Armour, 2012). “There has to be something better,” he believed (Under Armour, 2012). That statement soon launched the performance apparel industry (Under Armour, 2012). That statement also became Under Armour’s generic strategy, which was to develop a better product than there was in the market. While Plank was perfecting his t-shirt after he graduated, he needed funds to launch his apparel line, so he maxed out his credit cards to the tune of $40,000 and set up a company in his grandmother’s basement in Washington, DC (Under Armour, 2012). In...
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...Date: June 18, 2012 Re: Analysis of Under Armour’s Business Locally and Globally After a thorough analysis of your company, I recommend that you continue the footwear line in the United States and expanding internationally with the performance apparel. I feel that this modification will help the company take advantage in different markets overseas while still expanding in the United States. In this memo, I will first outline what I consider to be your company’s implemented business model plan, and after the SWOT analysis of the company, I will make recommendations for the revisions of Under Amour’s. Business model for Under Armour Mission of Under Armour. Under Armour business model revolves around the design, production, marketing, and distribution of high-tech athletic performance apparel to men, women and youth. The company’s main focus is the production of apparel for football, even though it has made vast advances in other sports such as, baseball and lacrosse. I believe the company should continue focusing on updating the production of apparel for the sports already dominated in while targeting other sports such as, Olympic sports, soccer, and basketball. Under Armour’s business model is one of a kind in that the company builds its sales efforts in constituting a base, wherein products are pushed out to sports professionals with the purpose that the style is seeped into majority of consumers. Business model for operations. Under Armour’s business model main focus is...
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...Corporate Histories History of Under Armour Under Armour is currently an athletic apparel, footwear, and accessory brand with the mission “to make all athletes better through passion, science, and the relentless pursuit of innovation” (Under Armour website). The brand was founded in 1996 by University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank in the basement of his grandmother’s house in Baltimore, Maryland. Based on his own athletic experience, Plank was inspired to create a sweat-wicking undershirt that did not get moisture-laden with sweat during games and practice. The company gained initial success with grassroots marketing among the athletic community. Under Armour did not reach mainstream consumers until the company’s products appeared in the 1999 film Any Given Sunday. It has continued to appear in other movies and television shows, and it has gained many athletic stars as spokespeople of the brand. Under Armour launched its first television advertisement, featuring football player Eric Ogbogu, in 2003. These marketing efforts have done well to expand consumer recognition of the brand’s initial product. Sweat-wicking shirts are now commonly known as “Under Armour” similar to the way tissues are now often just called “Kleenex.” With its evolving brand image, Under Armour has been able to expand beyond the athletic performance apparel market, which it dominated at 75% of market share in 2005. Following its initial public offering in 2005, which raised over $100 million...
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...Business Analysis of the Under Armour Brand Business Analysis FOR Dr. Kimberly Carter Business 508: Contemporary Business October 25, 2015 Strayer University . Abstract This paper aims to analyze three factors impacting the overall performance of Under Armour. Kevin Plank, a former University of Maryland football player, started the company in 1996 with an innovative idea to provide premium sports apparel to Under Armour’s customers. Factors such as ethical standards and integrity, innovation, and financial performance will be analyzed along with the potential impacts these factors have on the success of the Under Armour brand. The most critical factors determining the company’s success are determined and three business actions, including ways to cut costs, expand internationally, and increase sales by expanding its product base, will be evaluated in reference to the factors deemed necessary for Under Armour’s success. Business Analysis of the Under Armour Brand Introduction Kevin Plank, founder and CEO, formed Under Armour in 1996 with the innovative idea of providing high-performance sports apparel to athletes. Plank used a sophisticated textile design to repel sweat and keep athletes cool while performing in competitions and working out. Under Armour has designed performance enhancing apparel to include athletic tops, pants, shoes, shorts, bras, and sweaters. Thompson stated that “Plank believed that Under Armour’s potential for long term...
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