MC 495 Comprehensive Social Media Analysis Project: Under Armour Carolyn Churchill Kera Cottingham Daryne Foote Hannah

Hamby-Scott Jessica Wiger Introduction Under Armour was created in 1996 by Kevin Plank. As a former football player for the University of Maryland, Plank began the company with the idea of revolutionizing the T-shirt for athletes: A shirt that provided compression and wicked perspiration off your skin rather than absorb it. A shirt that worked with your body to regulate temperature and enhance performance (Under Armour, About Under Armour, n.d.). Under Armour has developed different product lines for athletes to be used according to the seasons that include, HeatGear when it's hot, ColdGear when it's cold, and AllSeasonGear between the extremes (Under Armour, About Under Armour, n.d.). All of Under Armours products are based off of its mission statement, To make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation (Under Armour, Brand Mission, n.d.). All of its products are designed with the athlete in mind and include items that assist in a variety of sports and activities. Under Armour was first started by Plank with $20,000 of his own money, $40,000 from credit and a $250,000 Small Business loan (Lyster, 2006). The company is headquartered in Baltimore, Md., and has since grown to be able to serve not only the U.S., but also Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and 80 other countries worldwide (Under Armour, Shop for Under Armour Gear, n.d.). Under Armour sells its products in 20,000 retail stores and also online and through its catalog (MarketResearch.com, 2011). In December 2006, the company began selling stock on the New York Stock Exchange (Under Armour, Investor FAQs, n.d.) and the
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company reported in October 2011 that its net revenues increased 42% to $466 million(Under Armour, Under Armour Reports Third Quarter, 2011). The companys marketing, advertising and public relations appear to be done somewhat from within the company itself. From Hoovers.com, the website lists numerous marketing positions held within the company that help comprise its marketing team (n.d.). Additionally, Under Armour offers a job search on its website where anyone can search for a variety of marketing, advertising and public relations jobs (Under Armour, Careers, n.d.). Also, the company recruits interns to help in these departments and add to its marketing workforce (Sharrow, 2011). However, the company does seem to outsource for some of its communication needs to companies such as Renegade, a 360 communications company (Renegade, n.d.).

Communication Initiatives Under Armour does a great deal of its communication online. The company makes use of its own website, http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/, to market and advertise its products. Under Armour also readily makes use of Facebook to communicate about its products and what the company is doing. It offers a variety of Facebook pages that target Under Armour consumers by gender, sport, type of product, etc. The company also uses LinkedIn to communicate information about itself. Under Armour also makes use of Twitter, which it primarily uses to respond to consumers and build relationships with them. Under Armour also promotes via its YouTube channel. On the channel the company features commercials and videos featuring its products in use. Many of the videos use a famous athlete to appeal to the consumer. Online, the company uses a blog as well to communicate and build relationships with its publics via athlete Brandon Jennings (Jennings, n.d.). The company also maintains relations

with its investors by targeting them specifically through an area of its website (Under Armour, Investor FAQs, n.d.). Offline, the company is also involved in numerous communication efforts. One way Under Armour advertises its products is by sponsoring sports teams and athletes: All these contracts will keep the Under Armour logo on millions of TV screens during the thousands of games televised across all the major sports leagues in the coming years, exposing the brand to tens of millions of youth athletes, who in time will grow into loyal Under Armour customers (Maher, 2011). The company is also the sponsor of the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine, which according to Plank, Combine 360 will also serve as a grassroots level showcase for the Under Armour brand as well as new products in categories from like (sic) footwear (SponsorPitch.com, 2010). In addition, Under Armour communicates through the use of commercials that often display the athletes it sponsors. The commercials appear on television, especially on sports networks such as ESPN, and Under Armour has even ran commercials during the Super Bowl. Under Armour also communicates important company information and product release details via news releases that it distributes to print and digital news outlets (Under Armour, Press Releases, n.d.). It also communicates traditionally with print ads in magazines and in catalogs such as Eastbay. Furthermore, from Under Armours security and privacy statement, one can assume the company communicates by using direct marketing efforts such as telemarketing, email and direct mail (Under Armour, Security and Privacy, n.d.).

Need for Social Media Monitoring Due to Under Armours size and amount of revenue it brings in, it is imperative that the company monitors the online conversation about itself. In order to further the company, it needs

to reinforce the positive things being said and address the negative. Under Armour can benefit tremendously by building on these online relations with its publics and using those relationships to garner new consumers, and therefore generate more profit for the company.

Methodology Our group used certain key words to study Under Armours social media marketing plan. We studied what people may have searched in order to find or come across Under Armour as an option. We used the key word Nike because it is Under Armours biggest competition. This is a key term because it is important to study the social media plan of the competition in order to understand what needs to be focused on for Under Armour. We also used Under Armour as a key term along with Under Armor. It was important for us to note that some people do not know how Under Armour is spelled. This is significant because if people do not know how to spell the brand name then it is possible that Under Armour is doing a poor job in the branding of the company. We searched other key terms such as athletic wear and protect this house. Both of these are significant because athletic wear is a term that is highly likely to be searched by someone who may end up using Under Armour, and Protect This House is the phrase that Under Armour uses as a campaign slogan. After deciding what key terms to use, we searched for these things using Google and Technorati, a search engine for user-generated media (including weblogs) by tag or keyword. We searched Technorati for possible blogs that mention these terms and to see where Under Armour ranks among the blogs. We also used Google to see how high on the search page Under Armour appeared. We searched for tweets with these terms and searched Facebook for groups with these names, especially using Under Armour and Under Armor. As we searched these

things on the different engines, we made note of the different things that were being said about Under Armour, and we noted how they ranked on the different social media. We relied heavily on the key terms that we thought people would use in describing Under Armour, and we called these little bits of information, nuggets.

Results When finding our nuggets and completing the Social Media Monitoring Table, we examined social media channels and pages outside of Under Armours own. These nuggets led us to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) about Under Armours current social media strategy and performance. When determining strengths and weaknesses, we also looked at the official Under Armour Facebook page, YouTube page, Twitter account, and blog.

SWOT Analysis: Strengths Overall, Under Armour has a relatively strong social media presence. The company has a significant following on Facebook, with 1,109,223 likes as of November 30th. Under Armour regularly posts to and updates this Facebook accounts, and in doing so has established effective communication channels with Facebook users. Additionally, Under Armour implemented the Finding Undeniable social media campaign. This campaign awards Under Armour products to the high school that completes the most challenges and receives the most online votes. This effort greatly increased the number of posts mentioning Under Armour on Facebook. It encouraged Facebook users to share the Under Armour page with friends in hopes of receiving votes for their high school. The Finding Undeniable Facebook application had more than 40,000

monthly Facebook users, demonstrating the effectiveness of the campaign. Under Armours most successful social media use is on Twitter. On Twitter, Under Armour responds in a timely manner to tweets, both positive and negative. If someone complains about Under Armour via Twitter, Under Armour will tweet back asking the user to direct message the Under Armour account about his or her problem. By doing this, Under Armour is managing negative feedback and providing a positive customer service experience to consumers. Negative comments, blogs, and tweets about Under Armour are sparse, which is yet another Under Armour strength online.

SWOT Analysis: Weaknesses Although Under Armour has numerous strengths and a good overall image on social media, it has a few weaknesses. These weaknesses provide insight into the areas in which Under Armour should focus its attention online. Perhaps the greatest weakness of Under Armour is its blog. The company only has one blog, which is The Diary of Brandon Jennings. Brandon Jennings is a basketball player, but not all of Under Armours customers or prospective customers are basketball players or fans. This blog appeals to only a limited group of consumers, thus limiting the number of people who view it. Additionally, the blog is very promotional, and it does not offer much content that is interesting or exciting to consumers. It mainly consists of pictures and videos of Under Armour products and, specifically, the products of Brandon Jennings. Another weakness of Under Armour is that the official Under Armour Twitter account is unverified. If consumers are unsure about the authenticity of the account, they may be hesitant to follow or tweet at Under Armour, thereby inhibiting Under Armours Twitter strategy. While there were not many negative comments about Under Armour, there was an overall lack of buzz about Under Armour. It is important for companies to be talked about on

social media, and currently Under Armour does not seem to be a very popular topic among social media users.

SWOT Analysis: Opportunities Within the realm of social media, a number of opportunities exist for Under Armour. Fitness, sports, and fashion bloggers could potentially provide an outlet for discussing Under Armour products online. Another opportunity online is with respect to a specific target public. There is a large, growing market of females who casually wear athletic gear that are now present on social media. Under Armour could target these women online. Because of the nature of Under Armours products, the company often sponsors athletes. These high-profile athletes have large followings on social media, and this presents Under Armour with an opportunity to reach a large audience through these sponsored athletes.

SWOT Analysis: Threats When looking at Under Armours presence online, there are certain things that could present a threat to Under Armours reputation. One of the main threats that exists for Under Armour is the number of various unofficial Under Armour social media accounts. Also, many pages and users refer to Under Armour as Under Armor. This presents a problem for Under Armour because the unofficial accounts may confuse and hinder consumers who are attempting to find the real account. Additionally, consumers might believe that the official Under Armour company is saying and doing things that in reality, it is not. Another possible threat to Under Armour is the lack of high-credibility bloggers in the fitness apparel category. If there are no credible sources in this category, it makes it difficult for Under Armour to receive adequate

buzz from such sources. Competition is always a legitimate threat to consider, and Under Armours competition is quite prevalent on social media. YouTube effectively demonstrates this threat. Under Armours YouTube page had 3,340 subscribers as of November 30th, while Nikes YouTube page had nearly 16,000 subscribers. This presents a significant threat to the Under Armour brand.

Conclusion

Twitter- Overall, we thought Under Armour's Twitter presence was successful. They tweet pretty regularly and respond to tweets on a daily basis. Under Armour's main problem on Twitter is the lack of buzz about the company.

Buy a promoted tweet, possibly #RUfromHERE? (Under Armour's slogan for this basketball season) and try to make it a trending topic.

Facebook- The Under Armour page has over one million likes on Facebook, so there is a strong following of fans. However, we found that there are many unofficial Under Armour pages. Most of these were fan-made, and the brand name was spelled incorrectly (Under Armor). They also do a good job of posting and updating regularly.

Make the official Under Armour page more recognizable. Keep all tabs on the Facebook page updated and current. We found that it had a promotion tab that was outdated. The contest being promoted had ended.

Implement more interactive contests and activities to encourage buzz about Under Armour, such as their Finding Undeniable contest aimed towards having high school students vote for their school in order to win Under Armour athletic gear.

YouTube- We Believe the Under Armour channel on YouTube is mildly successful. They post new content about once a month. The major challenge for their YouTube channel is the low number of subscribers. (3,340, when compared to Nike's number of subscribers, 15,807) While several of the videos posted have many views, they rarely post anything except for their commercials.

Increase number of subscribers to Under Armour YouTube channel. Post more often and more regularly. Create separate tabs for separate interests. (Have a tab for women, individual sports, their celebrity endorsers, and so on.)

Blog- The blog that Under Armour uses is done by one of their celebrity athletes, Brandon Jennings. When Jennings does post, which is not often, it is always promotional and never has What's In It For Me? content.

Send product samples to prominent bloggers to solicit posts on their own blogs. Create separate blogs for separate interests (Have a blog for women, individual sports, their celebrity endorsers, and so on.)

Blog about non-promotional topics. Use guest bloggers, such as famous athletes. Utilize SEO for blog posts. (We could not find their blog at all, much less on the first few pages of results, while searching with Google.)

Overall- These are some suggestions that we believe Under Armour should use across all of their social media platforms.

Make slogans more clear. Feature sponsors more often on all social media sites.

Do not focus solely on one sport at a time.

The most important thing we learned while doing this project was how imperative it is for a company to integrate social media. We have seen examples where social media monitoring, or lack thereof, will either make or break a company. With a company of such potential market growth such as Under Armour, it is vital to target and reach these groups online because todays generation is all about online presence. As we stated earlier, because of the nature of Under Armours products, the company often sponsors athletes. These high-profile athletes have large followings on social media, and this presents Under Armour with an opportunity to reach a large audience through these sponsored athletes. So online content must not only be out there, but it must be relevant and appealing to the target market. Under Armour has done an excellent job of recruiting famous sponsors for their brand, and it is because of those celebrities that the brand name is so desirable and recognizable. We also learned that a large majority of consumers loves company blogs. While Under Armour does have a blog, we believe that they could be even more successful if they revamped their blogging presence. With an outstanding blog, Under Armour could win over more souls and more brand loyalty over all of their competitors if they just made their blogs more appealing to a broader range of consumers. Another aspect we learned from Under Armour was their strong ability to respond quickly over social media. Our team all agreed that was something we admired about the company. For example, Under Armour will tweet back to people if they complain, asking the user to direct message the Under Armour account about his or her problem. We learned that through managing negative feedback, it also provides a positive customer service experience to consumers.

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References Hoovers.com (n.d.). Under Armour, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.hoovers.com/company /Under_Armour_Inc/rfjjfki-1-1njht4-1njhtz.html Jennings, B. (n.d.). The diary of Brandon Jennings. [Web log]. Retrieved from http://blog .underarmour.com/wheninrome/ Lyster, S. (2006, January 12). The history of Under ArmourA mastermind for performance apparel. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-Under-Armour---A -Mastermind-for-Performance-Apparel&id=127493 Maher, M. (2011, March 2). No sweat for Under Armour as sponsorships, margins and profits grow. Retrieved from http://seekingalpha.com/article/255870-no-sweat-for-under -armour-as-sponsorships-margins-and-profits-grow MarketResearch.com (2011, April 13). Under Armour, Inc. (UA)-Financial and strategic SWOT analysis review. Retrieved from http://www.marketresearch.com/GlobalData-v3648 /Armour-UA-Financial-Strategic-SWOT-6263327/ Sharrow, R. (2011, April 12). Under Armour seeks candidates for ultimate internship team. Retrieved from http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/blog/2011/04/under-armour-seeks -candidates-for.html SponsorPitch.com (2010, January 29). Under Armour protecting brand core, but expanding communications. Retrieved from http://sponsorpitch.com/articles/994 Under Armour (n.d.). About Under Armour. Retrieved from http://www.uabiz .com/company /about.cfm Under Armour (n.d.). Brand mission. Retrieved from http://www.uabiz.com/company/mission .cfm

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Under Armour (n.d.). Careers. Retrieved from http://www.uabiz.com/careers/careers.cfm Under Armour (n.d.). Investor FAQs. Retrieved from http://investor.underarmour.com/faq.cfm Under Armour (n.d.). Press releases. Retrieved from http://www.uabiz.com/news/pressReleases .cfm Under Armour (n.d.). Security and privacy. Retrieved from http://www.underarmour.com/shop /us/en/customer-service/security-and-privacy-policy Under Armour (n.d.). Shop for Under Armour gear. Retrieved from http://www.uabiz.com /shopua/shop.cfm Under Armour (2011, October 25). Under Armour reports third quarter net revenues growth of 42%; Raises 2011 net revenues and operating income look. Retrieved from http://finance .yahoo.com/news/Under-Armour-Reports-Third-prnews-4231775647.html?x=0&.v=1

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Target Public

Publics Characteristics (or Persona)

Current Organizations Perceptions Current of Communication Organization Strategy (or Message) -perceives Under Armour to be a company that is growing in popularity, but might not have the staying power as some competitors -thinks Under Armour provides cutting-edge apparel and equipment -Sends personalized catalogs -In-person visits to the GM or AD -Phone calls to the GM or AD

Suggested New Communication Strategy (or Message) -Implement a promoted trend on Twitter with the hashtag #wewantunderarmour for fans to influence the GM/AD -sponsor sports events

1. General Manager of Professional Teams/Athletic Director of College Teams

-high-level of influence -not focused on current fashions -focused on practicality -looking for cost-efficient options -makes purchase decisions for others rather than himself

2. Workout Moms

- woman in her early/mid 30s - usually has 14 kids - focused on practicality but still wants to look good, doesnt want the frumpy mom look - works out at 3 - 4 times a day, usually jogging with her kids -works in a gym -wears athletic clothing every day

- Under There is no Armour is a current focus on good brand this group but slightly expensive - could justify buying something from Under Armour but needs incentive to purchase instead of Nike -probably has some athletic clothing made my Under Armour -TV commercials placed on channels personal trainers

- utilize facebook and twitter to get the attention of these women - publish ads in Womens Health and Readers Digest or submit a press release to get them to publish an article - try to have a segment of Today or Good Morning America to feature Under Armour -put ads in magazines trainers are likely to read, like Fitness and Mens Health -sponsor gyms by
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3. Personal Trainers

-needs to look professional, like a credible person to train someone -has influence on people who want to look like and be as fit as them 4. Lower-level -jr. high or high Athletes school athlete -plays on school or community sponsored sports teams -uses workout gear multiple times throughout the week -wants to have workout gear that seems cool.

-may have a favorite athletic clothing brand already -probably already has an opinion of Under Armour -thinks that Under Armour is the cool thing to workout in. -thinks that wearing Under Armour makes him or her a better athlete

are likely to watch -Under Armour website targets athletic people -Combine 360 training blog reaches out to tainers -uses the Protect This House slogan -connects with this target through powerful TV commercials with appearances by famous athletes -introduced an online competition among high schools called Finding Undeniable in which schools complete challenges, and the school with the most votes and completed challenges wins $140,000 worth of Under Armour Gear for its athletic teams -provides products and product information in stores and online -commercials

giving all trainers Under Armour clothes to wear

-implement a promoted tweet for Under Armour to get this younger age group talking about the brand -provide products to the authors of prominent workout and fashion blogs in order to solicit product reviews -sponsor high-profile high school sports teams

5. Workout Fanatics

-uses workout gear daily -always looking for the new, best products -makes

-perceived Under Armour and its product information as one

-sponsor local gyms and trainers -provide perks for frequent purchasers, i.e. discounts, reward programs
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purchase decisions based on ability to improve their workout performance -spends a lot of time in workout clothes, so want to look good in them -personal appearance and health extremely important to them

company that provides workout products, but they also are very aware of what competitors are offering -believes Under Armour is selling products that aid in their workouts and meet their intended purposes

displaying use of their products while doing physical activity -Combine 360 training blog

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