Under Armour may "never overtake its biggest competition" in Nike when it comes to numbers of college athletic departments signed, but UA "insists it can succeed with a targeted approach based on identifying the most suitable partners -- and geography plays a significant role," according to Jeff Barker of the Baltimore SUN. UA VP/Global Sports Marketing Ryan Kuehl said, "We're never going to be the brand with the most athletes or the most schools, most entertainers -- that's not who we are. We want the right ones, the ones with the high character and the elite talent, that have a certain flair that people want to follow and are interested in." S.F.-based Baker Street Advertising Exec Creative Dir Bob Dorfman said, "UCLA was a big sign for them, Cal maybe not quite as big." Barker noted while UA has "signed a handful of big names in the past few years, gaps remain in its U.S. map." It has just one university, Texas Tech, in "populous, athletics-rich Texas, none in Arizona and would seem to need to reinforce its profile in the Southwest." UA also would "like to make inroads in Nike's homeland, the Northwest," where Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State are all affiliated with Nike. Kuehl: "Southwest and Northwest would be two areas you'd want to try to fill in. If you can get to the point where you have two, three or four schools per conference, that's probably plenty. You don't need to have 10 of 12." He added, "California was a big target of ours." Barker noted UA last year "opened its first Brand House retail store" in a shopping area near L.A. (Baltimore SUN, 1/22).
JOBS REPORT: In Baltimore, Jeff Barker noted UA Founder, Chair & CEO Kevin Plank yesterday "joined a small group of business leaders at the White House" for the "first of what is expected to be a series of periodic meetings with President Donald Trump on adding and retaining manufacturing jobs" in the U.S. Trump said he hopes to convene the group at least four times a year to hear directly from the business community (Baltimore SUN, 1/24).
