The case captures the entrepreneurial initiatives, inventions and growth story of Kevin Plank, who in 1996, founded the firm Under Armour, a sports apparels firm which went on to take on the bigwigs like Nike and Adidas. The case is about the genesis of Under Armour and the various entrepreneurial aspects like product innovation, product branding, marketing, communications etc.

Under Armour’s Sweat Wicking Cleats were placed not as mere sports apparel, but was promoted as a performance enhancer – which struck the right chord with the target audience. The branding and positioning strategies ranged from sponsoring tournaments, sporting in movies, viral marketing etc. The case captures the various marketing and branding strategies that Plank adopted to promote Under Armour’s brand and its products.

The competition in the sports apparel industry was fierce and had immense potential to affect Under Armour. The case also captures the challenges Under Armour faced viz. competition, lack of continuous innovation, lack of patenting etc.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship Case Studies | Case Study in Management, Operations, Strategies, Business Environment, Case Studies

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Issues

The case is structured to achieve the following teaching objectives:

	Captures the entrepreneurial traits of the protagonist.
	Elaborates around Under Armour’s branding strategy for successful product penetration.
	Discusses innovation as an entrepreneurial trait and the role of innovation in Under Armour’s success

Contents

INTRODUCTION

THE BEGINNING

SALESMAN BY NATURE

OPPORTUNITY IDENTIFIED

UA IS BORN

BRAND RECOGNIZED

INITIAL FUNDING

UA’S COMPELLING UNIQUENESS

THE HOLLYWOOD BREAKTHROUGH

Keywords

Under Armour; Kevin Plank; Sports Apparel Industry; Innovation; Nike; Adidas; NFL; Maryland Terrapins; DuPont; Research & Development; ESPN; Viral marketing; IPO

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