Case Studies and Readings in Sports - Coursework Example

When Under Armour started to enter the market, it had to face huge challenges from the existing players like Nike, Adidas. The increasing acceptance of Under Armour products and the suitable marketing strategies adopted by Plank helped the company to penetrate the apparel segment of the sports industry and gain considerable market share. Critique The case study of the Under Armour could be analyzed to highlight the growth of a product lifecycle under the brand name of its company from a very obscure position to a market leadership position by virtue of quality and ability to meet the demands of the customers.

Under Armour is a company in the sports industry that manufactures and sells performance wears that are not only strong as compared to the earlier one but also comfortable for the sportspersons as its regulates body temperature and keeps them agile during the time of sporting events. The company was founded by Kevin Plank who was himself a footballer in the college days and had faced difficulties due to the performance wears or the shirts that they wore during their playing days. Those shirts were of inferior qualities and caused difficulties as those absorbed due to bodily perspirations which made them heavy feel heavier at the time of playing.

The Under Armour which became synonymous with the brand name of the company with the increasing acceptance of the performance wears by the sportspersons acquired high market shares in a short span of time which posed threat to the existing market players like Adidas. The sportswear sold by Under Armour was of high quality due to the high quality cotton and fabric used in the process of production. The sportswear manufactured by Under Armour could regulate the body temperature and wipe off the sweat and body perspirations that helped to keep the footballers and the athletes free from external disturbances due to their bodily activities.

The inner wears of Under Armour were highly elastic and could fit the skin smoothly thereby giving comfort to the players which helped in improving the sports performances. When Under Armour decided to enter the market with the growing acceptance of its products, they faced huge challenges from the market leaders Like Nike, Adidas who ruled the athletics apparel industry. At that point of Nike was the market leader in the athletic apparel market with 21.3% market share followed by Adidas. This prompted Under Armour to adopt several marketing strategies to penetrate the potential market segment for athletic apparels for men and women.

The various marketing strategies included endorsement by the target users, word of mouth, buzz marketing and product placement strategies (Kraft and Lee, 2009). The company realized that the athletic apparels and inner wear for sports are manufactured to meet the needs of the athletes and improve their performance through provision of comfort offered by better quality of fabric. Under Armour was used by athletes and the endorsement by these sports celebrities provided the marketing communication to the other athletes and sports lovers.

This increased the likelihood of brand recall and provided more credibility to the users of the athletic apparel. The spread of word of mouth among the customers who were the sports lovers and the athletes, footballers themselves led to the increase in the increase