Under Armour's Marketing Armor

My long time friends and readers that have joined me on my quest that began in 2015 to earn my bachelor's degree have noticed that from time to time I post updates in my blog. These updates are usually assignments or random musings when the need strikes to me extrapolate some random thought into typed words such as my last post, "The Beauty in Mediocrity."

This post will be assignment related and deals with the sports apparel company Under Armour and their woman focused "I Will What I Want" campaign from 2014. Following on the heels of an Adidas campaign that marketed to females "Unite All Originals" that failed to register much of a blip in sales, Under Armour decided to try to market their products to women which accounted for less than 25% of their total sales.

Both campaigns were social media focused with YouTube being the main method of delivery. Under Armour focused on an unusual athlete, Misty Copeland, a ballerina. She reads a rejection letter from a top school while the camera focuses on a powerful performance on stage that would put my middle aged and formerly athletic body in traction for a month. The ad was an instant success with four million views in the first week.

By contrast the Adidas ad was loud, unfocused, and frenetic. There were more men in the commercial than women which was counter to their intent to market to females. Compared to the peacefully scored piano piece that contrasted with the rejection letter and powerful physical performance it was easy to see what Adidas failed to garner sales. They might as well have set their marketing budget on fire and at least they could have roasted hot dogs with it.

Under Armour stayed on target with their intentions to market towards females. Every piece of their ad set meshed with every part. Their message was clear while Adidas' message was muddled at best. Their segmentation focused on athletic females that might not be perceived as athletic. More along the lines of the everyday female athlete that might go to the gym a few days per week.

When you market to a segment, you've got to actually keep them in mind and not throw frenetic images on a wall and see what sticks. How did Adidas believe such a campaign to move the sales needle after a very muddy message? I wanted to shut it off after the first thirty seconds but did my due diligence and stuck it out until the end and came away thinking "WHAT WAS THAT?!"

Segmentation marketing is around us on a daily basis. Web searches create patterns in what you look for, ad sets are matched to your searches, you see products that are then marketed towards your segment. If I search for concealed carry holsters for example, I'll start to see different brands pop up on the sides where the ads are on websites I visit. That means someone created an ad set that was looking for your segment of the population with your interests and has a product they want you to see and purchase.

The rubric asks me to identify a marketing segment I've noticed and how I would market towards that segment. This is very easy! Free to play games has got to be one of the most easily identifiable segment in today's world! You can't get away from ads for Candy Crush, Boom Beach, Viking Kingdom of the Lost World of Titans or whatever such bland titles they come up with next. The reality is these games are everywhere.

It's brilliant actually, they know everyone and their dog has a mobile device. They know you will be looking at it constantly. They also know for Millennials being bored for more than two seconds is like death to them. However give someone constant affirmation in the form of a game, pleasant sounds, and constant rewards and they have you hooked. Micro transactions will eat into your budget quickly but these aren't mentioned much in the marketing design.

The marketing for such a game writes itself. Segment the Millennials born between 1994 and 2004, both male and female. Appeal to your segment with your product as THE boredom killer. Post game play videos on Instagram and YouTube where the focus isn't on the screen but the happiness of the player's face that is playing the game to create curiosity. The game play would never be shown in an ad as they are typically the same game in different skins with the same mechanics but focus on what the player is feeling and not what they are doing. That's how I'd create an a segmentation strategy.