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Under Armour: Ugly Jerseys, Brilliant Marketing
Posted by: gordiedutka | September 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment
I recently read quite an interesting article in macleans.ca about the well known athletic apparel company Under Armour, and how they designed very extravagant and unusual uniforms for the University of Maryland football team. Owner of Under Armour Apparel, Kevin Planks, is a former University of Maryland graduate who saw a vision to use the Maryland players as “human billboards”, and proceeded to design multiple versions of these extremely odd, multi-coloured uniforms which he knew would create an enormous buzz for the University of Maryland, but ultimately, would place Under Armour in the spotlight. Many critics claimed that these jerseys were ugly and painful to look at, but does that really matter in the big picture for Under Armour? Maryland and UA Apparel both knew that these jerseys would be a rather hideous sight, but that was the best way to create a buzz for their respective companies. Celebrity figures like LeBron James even took the time to tweet about how ugly these jerseys were, and the people of Under Armour were undoubtedly jumping for joy when they realized that their brilliant marketing scheme had been successful. I guess any publicity is good publicity… I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions.