Introduction
We have selected Under Armour clothing, because we feel that they have a unique variety of clothing. Under Armour’s marketing strategy aims towards Athletes who participate in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, hockey and so on. Unlike Nike………The Company has an optimistic view of helping athletes improve their performances. Their scientific research has shown great results, such as the unique clothing they create. One of Under Armour clothing lines creations is their hot/cold shirts. The hot/cold shirts are designed to wear 2 ways. One way you would wear the shirt to keep warm and the other way to keep cool, and they are color coordinated as well. Under Armour’s Mission Statement is “TO MAKE ALL ATHLETES BETTER THROUGH PASSION, SCIENCE AND THE RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF INNOVATION”. The company has a passion and understanding of what athletes across the world need to excel in their performances. They Target Athletes abroad and achieve their targeted customers. They find new ways and approach any obstacle with a great knowledge of research.
Brand Mission:
“To make all athletes better through passion, science and the relentless pursuit of innovation.” For the past decade, Under Armour has provided the world with technically advanced products engineered with their exclusive fabric construction, supreme moisture management proven innovation in every Under Armour product. Under Armour product is doing something for you, “It’s making you better.” The logo is Under Armour’s guarantee.
Segmentation
Under Armour analysis focuses on four segmentations, Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic, and Behavioral. Geographically Under Armour aims for worldwide buyers, focusing its targeted market on athletes and active life styles. The demographic segmentation of this market is wealth, all age groups, mostly male, athletes and sport teams. Also they target consumers with a healthy lifestyle and athletes in various sports that have an aspiration for high quality products. The personality traits that people would have to purchase this product would be ambitious, competitive, higher social class, and achievers. Nike has promoted its new clothing line “Dry Fit”, same as Under Armour, but sells their products at a lower price. Primarily income segmentation plays a big role in Under Armour’s brand name, targeting buyers with higher income. Though Under Armour is pricier than Nike, Under Armour has chosen a “Multivariable Segmentation” constantly having the leading edge in their product choices. The company aims for World Wide consumers, they try to maintain this goal by constantly innovating ideas.
Under Armour is aiming to start partnerships between college football sport teams. These Male athletes range from ages 17-23, also these sport teams are always seeking to be the best and want the best equipment for their performances. They try to endorse their product through young athletes, trying to capture that football apparel market. Their marketing campaign is to create an image of tough, fast, stronger and feared. Under Armour has focused on male athletes, their newest endeavor is to achieve cliental in the female population.
“The sales force is now armed with women’s product for softball, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, soccer, field hockey and fitness. In addition to increased breadth, the line offers more depth.”
The company is selecting concentrated marketing, because at they are trying to provide the main resources of the sporting industry. They try to gain this goal by constantly endorsing their products through famous athletes and providing as much resources for the sporting market. Also Under Armour is targeting one group, males 17-23 yrs old and now they are branching out to the female population in the sports market. They are starting to design new clothing options for the many sports that people from all ages are participating in. Although this type of marketing may attract more competitors, Under Armour ensures their products are of high quality, and high status.
Our marketing and promotion efforts begin with a strategy of selling our products to high-performing athletes and teams on the collegiate and professional levels. We execute this strategy through professional and collegiate sponsorships, individual athlete agreements and by selling our products directly to team equipment managers and to individual athletes. As a result, our products are seen on the field, giving our products exposure to various consumer audiences through the internet, television, magazines and live at sporting events. This exposure to consumers helps us establish on-field authenticity as consumers can see Under Armour products being worn by high-performing athletes. Under Armour is the official outfitter of the athletic teams at Auburn University, Texas Tech University, the University of Maryland and the University of South Florida, and beginning in July 2010, Boston College.
The positioning product that Under Armour is portraying is their sporting products enhances and improves your athletic ability. They position on a “more for more” basis, making their products at a high quality and paying higher prices. The reason for this is Under Armour ensures their products are long lasting, powerful, and attainable in many regions. Also Under Armour’s research team tries to come up with different ideas and methods to be the next best producer in the sporting industry. This research can be costly and having many stores around the world can cause Under Armour to have high prices. Under Armour’s product portrays athletes with style, prestige and higher social class. It also symbolizes athletes with a sense of strength, feared, and competitive advantages.
Marketing Mix
Product:
Under Armour is one of the best quality athlete wear in the world. There are products that Under Amour carries called Hot/Cold gear. Individuals can wear a Hot/Cold gear shirt on one side while going snowboarding or skiing to keep them warm. When you flip the shirt to the other side you can use it for running or training in order to keep them cool. Under Armour has features such as UA tech fabric for lightweight comfortable feel, strategic vent zones to keep you warm and dry and also maximum mobility minimum dry times. Under Armour products come in different design, color or different fabric to fit people needs. Some of the Under Armour clothes are warm and also cool for both winter and summer. The company also provides military and hunting clothes. Under Armour logo is their guarantee. The company expects perfection from their products. They also have a website online that can help many customers learn more about the products and the services that Under Armour offers.
Price:
Hot/Cold athletes wear is a new product. Under Armour is using the skimming pricing, so they can set very high prices to get maximum revenues and it usually is for people who can afford to buy the products. Under Armour makes fewer hot/cold athletes wear but they get more profit out of it. Under Armour also gives discount to their customers if they buy high volume of athletes wear or off -seasons buying. In Canada Under Armour sells their products in stores like Sportchek and Sport Mart. These stores usually give out discounts on special events such as Christmas and Boxing Day. Under Armour also uses uniform-delivered pricing so the company charges the same prices plus freight to all customers regardless of their location. Under Armour sometimes also uses promotional pricing so that they can get rid of their old products and get more customers to buy their products.
Place:
Under Armour is using Indirect marketing channel, where it goes through one or more intermediates levels. In this case it means that Under Armour has to go through wholesaler and then the retailer then finally to the customers. Under Armour is available is all the cities in the United State and also in Canada. There are only three specialty stores in the United State and it located in Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts. Under Armour is using vertical marketing systems in which the distributions channel structure where producers, retailers and wholesalers act as unified system. One of the channel members has power over the other so that they are all cooperating. Under Armour is using pull strategy. The customer’s request is for a specific product so the retailers goes through the delivery channel and get the products from the wholesalers and then they go to the retailers. The distribution channel works well for Under Armour up until now. It is extremely convenient for customers to go and purchase Under Amour products because they can buy it online or at the retailers.
Promotion:
Under Armour does a lot of advertising such as institutional advertising like sponsor little league baseball team and sponsor senior challenge for college football players. Under Armour gives incentives such as discount on new products or discount if customers purchase large quantity of Under Armour products. Under Armour is doing good job of building good long relationship with their customers and also their wholesalers and retailers. They try to get famous athletes around the world to do their advertising and also try out their products to give suggestion of how to improve the quality of the products. Under Armour is also doing a fantastic job of unfavorable rumors, events and stories. They have been building good images that help them to growth stronger each year. Under Armour doesn’t really use personal selling but they do a lot of advertising that helps customers know what Under Armour is all about. Under Armour sometimes have contests so individuals can enter to win Under Armour athletes wears. Most of the people who are entering usually are interested in Under Armour. Representatives from Under Armour usually call those people up to offer them deal and sometimes they call up former customers to give them information on the new products. By doing this they are proving how they care about their customers being a strong relationship. Under Armour sent out a very good message that makes customers remember that Under Armour has excellent quality athletes wear. Many people want to buy it not just because of its quality but because of its logo and the brand name.
S.W.O.T
[Micro] The Company – Suppliers – Marketing Intermediates – Customers -Competitors – Publics
Strengths
– Has strong brand equity (The Company, Customers)
– Innovation (The Company, Customers)
– Professional & college athletes’ sponsorship (Publics)
– Athletes wear the brand (The Company, Competitors)
– It has a strong brand name (The Company)
– It is a recognizable, logo (The Company, Competitors, Customers, and Publics)
– Growth and innovation (The Company, Competitors)
– Performance athlete apparel (The Company, Customers, Publics)
– High quality apparel (The Company, Customers, Competitors)
Weaknesses
– The prices are expense. (The Company)
– Under Armour has a narrow focus; workout wear (The company, Customers, Competitors)
– The product is viewed as a male brand (The Company, Customer, Competitors)
– The company is still newer compared to other companies who have been around for a while. (The Company)
[Macro] Demographic forces – Economic forces – Natural forces – Technological -Political forces – Cultural forces
Opportunities
– Used for a variety of sports. (Demographic forces, Cultural forces)
– Focus on consumer lifestyle improvements. (Demographic forces)
– Important/Famous people wear the product. (Economic forces)
– Attract customers looking for high quality. (Demographic forces and Economic forces)
– Attracts more people, not just hard core athletes. (Demographic forces, Economic forces)
Threats
– Other companies like Nike and Adidas. (Demographic forces, Economic forces)
– The competitors who offer similar products at lower prices. (Demographic forces, Economic forces)
– Viewed as male brand. (Demographic forces, Economic forces)
The top four factors that are the most important for Under Armour is to keep attracting customers looking for high quality, also keep creating that strong brand equity, show how Under Armour will create performance for athletes and show how Under Armour can be used for a variety of sports.
Social responsibility:
Under Armour and Igive.com team up to help donate money to charities every time customers search or purchase anything on igive.com. Under Armour and igive.com will donate five dollar on everything that customers purchase and also a penny or two when customers search online at igive.com. Under Armour also support the breast cancer power in pink. Under Armour tries to do everything in order to help society. They help many of its customers get through tough times and also gives out donations for everyone who needs it most. It is one of the best ways for Under Armour to create that relationship with their customers.
Conclusion
Overall, Under Armour sells itself because of its high quality. It has a strong brand equity which helps them extremely. We recommend that Under Armour opened up a store where they sell only their products. They would have trained staff who would know everything about their products. Another recommendation would be for Under Armour to expand their range of products. They should start to sell a wide variety of stuff like yoga gear, shoes and golf gear. Another idea that they could work with would be having a site where individuals could design their clothes styles, colors, shoes, water bottles, and bags, give the customers lots of freedom to explore their imagination. Customers will appreciate a company that is always trying to create value for the consumers.