I recently wrote that Under Armour lost out on coveted number one WNBA draft pick Aliyah Boston. I explained that adidas nabbing the former Under Armour NIL athlete was an incredible storytelling opportunity for adidas. What I didn’t explain was why Under Armour didn’t really lose. Basketball sneakers are no longer the cash cows they once were for athletic brands. In many ways basketball sneakers, including signature athlete shoes, are loss leaders that are basically marketing tools to establish how brands are creating the gear athletes use to accomplish amazing feats.
Under Armour is attempting to increase their marketshare in the highly competitive performance footwear and apparel market. The brand finds itself as a vital component of the athlete’s uniform for fitness, but many of the offerings Under Armour is selling comes at a reduced margin due to a lot of the gear being moved in the brand’s own retail doors. Signing Boston would have done very little for the sell through of basketball sneakers and would not have translated to any significant interest in apparel. What does make a dent in the market for Under Armour are unique and authentic connections to young athletes.
This year arch has made an attempt to place Memphis in the crosshairs of marketing plans by major sneaker brands. As one of the few analysts in the sneaker industry focused on marketing and business development for sports brands, I connected with ASICS to help deliver track and field spikes to a variety of Memphis area high school programs:
ASICS Kicks Off Track and Field Season by Supporting Memphis Area High School Teams
ASICS’ support saw programs from Treadwell Middle School, Cordova, MHEA and Southwind get deliveries at track meets throughout the city. I knew that the team at Under Armour was interested in working with youth athletics in a similar manner, so I took the time to contact the Global Basketball Brand Marketing team to assist them in placing footwear on athletes in Memphis. To make this happen I aligned with local startup sportswear brand SWISH Athletics owned by Fred Griffin, 901Prepscoop.com owned by Chuck Lawson (I built the site for Chuck when I closed my CCB Sports Network website) and Chuck connected me with Building Block Mentors founder Stephon Smallwood.
Fred Griffin created a concept where he could highlight both his brand and Under Armour and it was covered by the Memphis Flyer (read the article here). The Memphis Flyer also discussed content Fred created with Merrell and The North Face, both events were set up via arch. Chuck connected with local grassroots basketball team the Memphis Revolution (pictured below looking really down after losing their first game of the season. Chuck tried to make it better by presenting the team with new Under Armour kicks, lol. They went on to win their next game.) Stephon used the kicks to complete an awards package for a few young ladies in his Building Blocks Program (pictured above). While UA missed out on a big name in women’s hoops it’s the smaller gestures with the young athletes which will have a lasting impact. Boston could go on to win rookie of the year which definitely adds to the sports legacy for adidas, but at a dust-like particle of the cost Under Armour has landed right where they need to be and that’s a beautiful thing.
