Under ArmourThe Building of The House

Kristopher NoltCasey Doyle

Case Overview

The initial concept was simple: create a T-shirt that would be affordable, featherweight, moisture-wicking, helpful to every individual athlete’s body type and training environment, and would fit skin tight so it would lie flat under straps and pads (Shannon, 2003).

Saturated Market Develop Cost Effective

Marketing Techniques

Facts/Issues Co-Founders: Kevin Plank, Kip Fulks $310,000 Funding Humble Beginnings Successful Marketers

Decisions What Product would be created Where would their limited

resources be allocated Which Marketing Methods would

be the most effective

SWOT AnalysisStrengths

Innovative Product Owner

Weaknesses Limited Resources Small Amount of Capital

Opportunities Lack of performance apparel Development of useful

marketing methods

Threats Saturated Market

Courses of Action Under Armour could

allocate monetary resources and develop a traditional marketing plan consisting of TV/Radio advertisements, printed advertisements etc.

Under Armour could allocate their resources into developing a cutting edge product and find creative ways to market the product through cheap and effective techniques.

Evaluation Criteria

Capital Availability of

new Marketing Techniques

Athlete Endorsement

Word of

Mouth

Infusion of Pop Culture and

Buzz Marketing

Product Placem

ent

Decided to allocate resources to create a innovative, quality, and superior product

Start building brand with low cost marketing techniques

Decision

Athlete Endorsements

Product as Marketing Agent

Athletes are walking billboards

The utilization of athlete endorsers is a successful method of marketing because of the desire of young athletes to play sports and act as the professionals act (Stone, Joseph, & Joe, 2003).

Word Of Mouth Word of mouth marketing is one of

most impactful methods of marketing, influencing awareness, expectations, perceptions, attitudes, behavioral intentions, and actual purchase (Ha, 2004; Reichheld & Schefter, 2000; Roman & Cuestas, 2008; Ward & Lee, 2000).

“Two things we can guarantee with every (new product) launch is that we will deliver great innovation with the product and that the brand will deliver entirely new energy and buzz into whatever category it enters” – Steve Battista

Infusion of Pop Culture and Buzz Marketing

When brands are able to evoke the energy and emotion of what is cool at the moment, they are more likely to stand out in today’s cluttered marketplace (Mehta, 2009).

With the impact that media has on society, popular culture can create fashion trends and icons of individuals in a very short period of time (Kenyon, Woods, & Parsons, 2008).

Product Placement Product (or brand) placement

has grown significantly over the past decade; marketers now frequently use placements as the basis for multimillion dollar advertising and promotional campaigns (Karrh, Mcee, & Pardun, 2003).

With the increase in non-traditional media, such as video games and Tivo, traditional 30-second TV inventory was not as effective as it has been in the past (“IMG revolutionizes… Tivo,” 2007).

Consequences

Under Armour has exploded Company name has

become synonymous with the product

Expanded Product Line Afford traditional marketing

methods Team Sponsorships Licensing Deals Title Sponsorships

What We Learned Importance of creating a

quality product Benefits of utilizing cost

beneficial marketing techniques

If you believe in a product, others will as well

QUESTIONS?