UnderArmor (UA) created
in 1990, has known an interesting success story competing against giants like Nike
or Adidas positioning its brand as an “underdog, hungry and willing to compete
against the best and win”. This company has experienced a stable growth and an
impressive one during the last 23 consecutive quarters which can be a consequence
of a very effective brand positioning. 
We are going to focus particularly on its Athlete sponsoring
strategy linked with the brand image. We all know sports sponsoring and the
race of the majors as Nike or Adidas who invest a large part of their incomes
in order to contract the best athletes around the world. The German firm Adidas
pays in 2004 the famous soccer player Lionel Messi 38 million euros to wear its
soccer boots or Roger Federer who earned 10 million dollars with his contract
with Nike in 2015. Those contracts are perceived as something current in the
sport business industry and in the consumer’s mind it is only the biggest firms
that may afford the image of a great name. Under Armor has created a small
revolution in this domain, in fact UA focuses on the hard training and the accomplishment
more than the performance and the results itself. In order to permit that it’s
sponsoring strategy have an impact in confirming and increasing the brand image
power, UA signs up contracts with athletes that did not yet reach the “superstardom”.
Under Armor gives even more power to its brand and products since they are
perceived as “responsible” of the athlete’s performance and success story. 
Sid Jatia, Vice President Omnichannel Digital at Under
Armour explained in an interview to “Marketingweek” in May 2016 that UA has a
very scientific approach to predict the future performances of the contracted
athletes in order to match and serve the brand image. He gives relevant
examples as the contract with the golfer Jordan Spieth who was seventh in the worlds
ranking and who is now fifth or the NBA player Stephen Curry who was left over
by Nike and is now one of the most important on the fields. 
In Europe they are
the sponsor of the football team Tottenham who has also known a good evolution
since the brand chose them. This intelligent use of science for sports is
something very powerful UA is accomplishing.
This strategy permits a win-win relationship
between the athletes who is supported in its domain by a strong company and a company
which sees its brand image strengthened and empowering to the public’s eyes.
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