Under Armour Enters the Basketball Shoe Market
Under Armour Enters the Basketball Shoe Market
Genesis Palmero, Fansico Parra, Nicole Jaramillo, Stephanie Alonso,
Christine Cabreja, Jared Malagon, and Jose Acosta
Florida International University
Under Armour Enters the Basketball Shoe Market
Under Armour Enters the Basketball Shoe Market
Discussion Answers
Question One
: Under Armour (UA) is a great example of a company that started from
zero and became an international icon in a relative short time. It all started in 1996 when Kevin
Plank, a University of Maryland football player, was tired of wearing cotton clothing during
practices and he knew his teammates felt the same way. An article titled “How Serial Innovators
Find The Best Problems To Solve” written by Dr. Abbie Griffin, holds the Royal L. Graff
Presidential Chair in Marketing at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business,
Raymond L. Prince, holds the William H. Severn's Chair of Human Behavior in the College of
Engineering at the University of Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education, and
Bruce A. Vojak, an Associate Dean for Administration in the College of Engineering and
Professor of Industrial and Enterprise Systems, talks about how serial innovators look for
problems that customers are willing to pay for if fixed not opportunities(Fast Company). Kevin
Plank found a problem that he experienced himself, knew that his teammates as well as other
athletes felt the same way and found a way to solve it. Kevin Plank was already up to a
successful start. The next big moment of Under Armour’s success and growth was in 1998 when
the brand had national exposure for the first time. Under Armour provided products for the
movie titled “Any Given Sunday” and purchased a full-page ad in the ESPN sports magazine.
The movie was an American sports drama film and ESPN is a sports magazine, by doing this
Under Armour officially entered the competitive industry of sports brands. Due to the founder’s
early network of football players by 2003 almost every player seemed to be wearing Under
Armour clothing in locker rooms which led to ESPN to ask the brand to be part of a series called
“Playmakers”. Under Armour featured “Big E”, Eric Ogbogu, an NFL football player on their
Under Armour Enters the Basketball Shoe Market
“We must Protect This House” commercial which became incredibly popular. Under Armour’s
campaigns, international exposures of the brand, and early network of football players
contributed to the growth and success of the brand. In 2005 Under Armour went “public” for the
first time, meaning that the company went from private to public to sell stocks shares in their
firm. Mark Koba, senior editor of CNBC, said in his article titled “Initial Public Offering: NBC
Explains” that going public “it’s simply a money-making move. The idea is to raise funds to have
more liquidity or cash on hand by selling shares publicly”. When Under Armour went public the
stock nearly doubled the first day. Now a days depending on the ups and downs of the market
