Under Armour's Marketing Strategy

The brand discussed in this report is Lululemon Athletica Inc. The brand is an athletic apparel retailer, whose main objective is building a community with a healthy lifestyle. Lululemon’s target market is middle/upper class 30-year-old woman. The brand is positioned as a premium high fashion brand for the athletic community. Some of Lululemon’s main competitors include Nike, Under Armour and Gap.

Skey says, “They clearly have a strong and emotional brand for young people.” Her quote benefits the idea of the use of emotional connections with their audience in the advertisements Nike uses. Leonard states in the Shoes, Diplomas, And The American Dream article that “Nike does have a message to market. The company is selling high-school and college athletes the prospect of not just a career but a future.” It is also stated in the article that people are “Willing to invest – to bet on – the future because of the seductive allure of the American dream” (Leonard). The products Nike sells can assist in the success of an athlete due to the use of the product. If a runner was to use crappy shoes, they may lack in their abilities due to the poor quality of the shoes. Another point is that if one is successful with a Nike product, they would stay with that product or upgrade when a better quality of the product by the same company, Nike, comes out. When success is found within one company, a customer is more likely to stay within the company product

An event such as the Olympic Games is an opportunity for manufacturers such as Under Armour to sponsor the national team from where the company is founded. In this case, Under Armour got the contract of developing the suits for the U.S. National Speed Skating Team. While companies such as Adidas could potentially provide the suits, Under Armour has the advantage of being an American company. While Nike is a direct competitor, speed skating is not something is commonly attracted to masses other than when the Olympic Games are underway and this was an opportunity Under Armour took.

With both of these instances, Sport’s Authority holds the competitive advantage because its offered the cheaper shoe with more color options for the consumer.

company has been in existence for a little over 15 years and has made huge strides in the textile,

Under Armour’s business strategy towards market segmentation is broken down into three different basis; Age, Gender, Uses. The first major market segmentation is by age, different age groups demand different products and Under Armour has produced certain merchandise to appeal to each generation. The second is Gender, both male and female respectively make up roughly 50% of the market equally.To appeal to females UA produces apparel in brighter colo, as a fashion forward athletic wear. While for males they they cater toward masculine vibe of tight fitting and resistant to wear and tear. Lastly, UA segments by the range of uses for their products.

1. Wilson has strong opinions about the target audience (Ocean persona) and Lululemon’s mission and vision. Analyze and briefly describe how Lululemon presents its brand in terms of the retail experience, promotion plan and messaging, and products.

Under Armour is in the Textile- Apparel Clothing industry, in the consumer goods sector. The market has been driven by economic recovery, new product offerings and a

The things people find most relevant is that it has good quality material. Its last a

Brands use different strategies to create competitive advantages to beat with their rivals. Some companies use “Overall Cost Leadership” to increase profit by reducing costs and increase market share by lowering price. Some companies use “Focus Strategies” to select a group of market and tailor its strategy to serve that group. The others use “Product Differentiation” as a strategy to obtain a premium price by making unique products. Nike, with its differentiation strategy, the company is continuing to separate its self from the competitors by using its superior technology and innovation. This paper mainly discusses on the company’s product differentiation and analysis how the company using this strategy to build its brand image and become a market leader in sportswear industry. A brief discuss about Nike competitive advantage which related to its broad differentiation aspect and the company product life cycle are also presented on this paper.

The rapid success of Under Armour is not a mistake. The company dominates the performance apparel category. According to Founder Kevin Plank, “The mission of Under Armour is to make technically advanced products that are engineered with superior fabric construction, to provide proven innovation available to the masses-aimed at making athletes perform better” (UnderArmour.com). Under Armour uses many marketing initiatives including athlete endorsement, product placement, and popular culture which illustrates the success of Under Armour.

I chose Under Amour as I enjoy using their products and feel aligned with their values. After working in the health and fitness industry I began purchasing their products: I liked their aesthetics, quality, and the branding that one didn’t have to be a sports athlete to participate in their brand. Additionally, I felt they represent women more in their items and have a campaign to fight breast cancer which is a cause close to me. Under Amour also has a line dedicated to the Wounded Warrior Project and another to helping children in underserved communities. Thus, their fashionable and quality products were how I became a customer and their social work has me appreciate them and these factors had me believe they would be interesting to examine

Under Armour is a company that produces athletic wear from baseball cleats to basketball shoes. Their mission is “to make all athletes better through Passion, Design and the Relentlessness pursuit of innovation (uabiz.com).” The company was founded in 1996 by former Maryland football player, Kevin Plank, in hopes that he would create clothing that kept athletes cool, dry, and light throughout the course of a game, practice, or workout. Under Armour came out with three different types of gear which included HeatGear, which is worn when it is hot, and ColdGear which is worn when it is cold, as well as AllSeasonGear that can be worn anytime. When “two-a-days” came around, which are two practices in one day, Plank absolutely hated having to change his shirt when it was soaked with his sweat after practice. He had in his mind that there had to be something better to wear. Kevin decided to name his company Under Armour, and after a lot of research on synthetic fiber, he made his first shirt, which he named #0037. He made the shirt capable of soaking up the sweat so that it would help the athletes stay cool, dry, and light under extreme conditions. The company had a huge impact on the community in 2013. Under Armour participated in 281 projects where almost 1,000 teammates of Under Armour volunteered over 6,000 hours, donated 800 jackets for people at a homeless shelter, and 1,500 meals were served to families in Baltimore City. Over the years, the

Adidas is the second largest sportswear and apparels manufacturer (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker, 2009). By far, Adidas holds a market share of 22% (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker, 2009). Adidas had also registered the infamous ‘3 stripes’ as its trademark (Berntson, Jarnemo & Philipson, 2006). The founders of Adidas, Adolf and Rudolf Dassler had the vision of providing athletes with the best suited pair of shoes for their respective sports (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker, 2009). In efforts of achieving that, Adidas is had used the strategy of collaborating with important athletes to gain their insights on the products offered (Berntson, Jarnemo & Philipson, 2006). This contributes to the fact that Adidas had earned

Today, the adidas® product range extends from shoes, apparel and accessories for basketball, soccer, fitness and training to adventure, trail and golf . adidas®, like many companies during the 1960s, believed in large volume sales. Lot of effort was put into advertising the brand in the early days through sporting celebrities. One of the main reasons that the colour of the 3 stripes on the running shoes was changed from black or dark brown to white was to facilitate easy brand recognition and identification, which in turn would promote the overall sales. The ideology was that the ability of a brand to stand out in the market place will enhance its chance of standing out in the customers mind. adidas® produced shoes that could be used for different types of sports.