Under Armour President, Chair & CEO KEVIN PLANK was profiled on Friday's episode of NBC’s “Rock Center," with host Brian Williams saying UA's "logo and the reach of the brand has grown steadily over the years." Williams: "It’s now all over the place and … the founder seems to understand this is clothing we’re talking about here, not rocket science." NBC correspondent Harry Smith noted Plank "is the guy who can proudly say, 'If you build a better T-shirt, the world will beat a path to your door.'" While not yet "as ubiquitous as the swoosh, season by season you see the Under Armour logo more and more.” UA’s success “did not exactly happen overnight," as it took 10 years "for the company to reach $300 million in sales." But "scrappy little Under Armour wanted to play in the big leagues against the likes of Nike and its creator, PHIL KNIGHT." Smith: "At Under Armour no one ever says Nike or Knight by name." Plank said, "I'm not going to lie to you. I read their book and when I was reading that book I was thinking, ‘I'm probably the one guy they don't want reading this book.’ But did we learn lessons from there? Yeah." Smith noted women's products at UA now "make up more than 30% of sales." UA Senior VP/Brand STEVE BATTISTA said Plank is "a driven visionary who can drive you crazy." Battista: "You’re going to go some days and you’re really going to want to punch him in the face, just to be brutally honest. But then you get home and you think about it and you’re like, ‘Hey, he was probably right'" ("Rock Center," NBC, 3/8).
