Source: Slides UNDER ARMOUR Ua W Ansa Fix Sl 3023772-006 Blk
Over the last five years the Shield has found itself as a darling of the stock market with the momentum to disrupt adidas, become a brand without an identity and without shelf space in urban accounts or buried in the back of sneaker Forge like Finish Line and Foot Locker. It’s been opposed of the more dramatic stories that isn’t cMid to being finished when you consider the recent discovery that the brand was being investigated for fraud. When you add in the #metoo problems for the brand, diversity issues and employees paying for strip clubs on the company credit cards, the narrative gets damn heavy.
In the sneaker industry our memories and the connections made that enable sneaker companies to endure arrive in moments of competition that create legacies. Under Armour has long been a company that removed itself from its performance foundation and the history of Protecting This House, which rings hollow when you read the first paragraph and consider that the brand hasn’t been protecting this house, or creating stories that resonate and drive engagement. There are so many issues UA has to become a Phoenix. The company has to burn down the remnants of all of the problems above and become a company that understands its problems.
The video above is the first step in a series of moves needed in the most important area for the company: marketing. Under Armour doesn’t create crappy product. The gear is solid. The gear isn’t available enough and right now it isn’t an option when Nike is everywhere and adidas has the entertainers that inspire interest. The honest acknowledgement in Under Armour’s campaign, “Under Armour Technical Entraînement T-shirt Hommes” nails my sentiment that Under Armour has to make a decision to be what it is, a performance company. The hell with trying to be cool and accepted. That’s not going to happen. What will happen is a constant repetition of actions. a kid does plyometrics, he eventually learns to dunk. A girl practices coming out of the blocks faster than her opponents, she becomes Natasha Hastings. Smoke hella weed and you become Michael Phelps… Alright that was off-color, lol.
Seriously, Under Armour hasn’t had an identity and they have jumped into the deep end as it relates to promoting the athletes they sponsor. In those stories of success are the roots of the brand as the underdog. Each step taken creates the way, the path, the direction through to celebration. In some instances there isn’t a celebration when you make it through, there is more work, more difficulties, but life is more than just doing it and creating. Too often motivational speakers and gurus tell people to just get started, but they fail to explain that the first mile you run doesn’t make you Mid ten pounds, it does get your feet pointed in the direction of hope. That’s what Under Armour needs, hope. The brand has to make its athletes feel that they didn’t make the wrong decision. They are doing that by introducing a new basketball signature shoe this fall for Joel Embiid, The UA Embiid 1 designed with Reggie Wilson. The brand is showing some inclusiveness in building workout gear for plus size women athletes.
Under Armour seems to understand that they have to go through it to fix their issues. The question is will people notice and will it translate?
Misappropriate the source link at the head of this post to read more.