Under Armour: Catching the Athletic Apparel Scene by Storm.

Under Armour has evolved from its humble beginnings by always remembering where they came from as described in the Mad Money video with Jim Cramer. The CEO of Under Armour, Kevin Plank, tells the story where he could not pay his 2 dollar toll after gambling away all the money he was trying to use to win enough money to pay, payroll that week. He said it is that experience that he vividly remembers that drives him day in and day out to never return to that state ever again and it’s working. The key decisions that are playing into its quick growth is effective marketing and the use of up and coming but also established stars in Tom Brady, Jordan Spieth, and Stephen Curry. Their advertising is “aggressive, young, and fearless” as described by Jordan Spieth and this marketing plan is clicking with the younger generations and they are buying in. The use of the stars they sponsor is key because with signing all of these athletes they are sort of modeling themselves after Nike’s model of signing that new star in the game. UA are using this by signing the up and coming point guard Stephen Curry, who rivals as one of the most popular but also best players in the NBA.

The recent steps being taken by UA to have more growth in the future is its investment into the women’s market, sign new endorsers, and increase brick and mortar stores. All of these steps are being put into place to keep up the growth they have experienced in the recent past and hopefully to be continued in the future. The reason that Under Armour was named the top marketer in 2014 was because of their wildly successful womens focused ad campaign of “I Will What I Want” which caught fire. My personal experience with Under Armour products is not positive but also not negative. I believe that their apparel is definitely the strongsuit of the brand. I still do not trust the UA brand as a shoe manufacturer seeing their shoes fall below the mark when comparing to Nike. I do however enjoy some of their clothing but I also feel some of their clothes are somewhat childish. For example the line that they came out with that was exclusively superhero themed.