Word: armour
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...just marketing. Both Nike and Under Armour are latching onto a new approach to training that's more dynamic than lifting weights and sprinting. At Nike.com athletes can access drill videos from "SPARQ Master Trainers": You're a basketball player, and you want to improve your quickness? Have your coach drop tennis balls at your feet, and catch them before they bounce above your knees. Under Armour will also post cross-training drills on its site this summer. "Nike is going after them with a vengeance," says John Shanley, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group. "They want to make sure...
...would Under Armour risk the punishment? The company's apparel business is solid--up 37% in 2007--so Under Armour certainly doesn't need to jump into a new category to grow. "Maybe I'm a little naive as we approach the footwear market," says Plank, a former University of Maryland football player who started the company in his grandmother's basement more than a decade ago. "Maybe we don't recognize the fact that we're walking on a tightrope on the 55th floor. But the fact of the matter is, it feels right. And that's what brands...
...stock market doesn't feel that way. In January, when Under Armour announced heavy marketing costs, including a $4.4 million Super Bowl ad for the launch of the training shoe, its stock dropped 33%, to $28.80 a share, over a two-day period. Under Armour also announced that $28 million in first-quarter marketing expenses, an increase of 103%, helped send profits down 71% for that quarter...
Throughout Under Armour's history, Plank has relished fighting the doubters. It's in his DNA: when describing his playing style at Maryland, the 5-ft. 11-in., 210-lb. (1.8 m, 95 kg) walk-on says, "I put my head down and hit you. That was my gig." He still has a locker-room mouth--"We give a s___ about what we do every day"--and rarely minces words. "What makes Under Armour special is the fact that we don't make a bunch of crap for the mass market," he says...
...strategist, though, Plank is more brains than brash. Many analysts admire his approach to expanding his brand. Under Armour could have jumped right into one of the two biggest sports-footwear categories--running and basketball--to try to steal share from Nike, Adidas and other Bigfeet. Instead, the company chose a more disciplined approach. Under Armour tested the footwear landscape about two years ago, when it started making American-football cleats. Selling soccer shoes against Adidas and Nike would have been suicidal. Football is a small, specialized market--about $250 million in the U.S. "Our No. 1 goal was authenticating...