{"id":14443,"date":"2016-11-15T20:08:09","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T01:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/under-armour-playing-the-digital-game\/"},"modified":"2016-11-15T20:08:09","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T01:08:09","slug":"under-armour-playing-the-digital-game","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/under-armour-playing-the-digital-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Under Armour: Playing the Digital Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Exhibit<\/a><\/p>\n

Exhibit 1: Kevin Plank\u2019s Daily Reminder<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under Armour can\u2019t decide what it wants to be when it grows up. Born 20 years ago from a single football shirt, UA has since expanded across all types of sporting apparel and entered new sports at an almost hyperactive rate [1]. And just when you think this company is maturing comfortably from teenage wild-child into its adult life as the second-largest sportswear brand in the US [2], it decides to remake itself into a software provider and hardware manufacturer [2].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

UA\u2019s digital foray begun in 2013 when it acquired MapMyFitness, a route-mapping and workout-tracking site. UA then purchased MyFitnessPal (a nutrition-tracking and meal-logging site) and Endomondo (a European-based personal training program) in 2015 [3]. Spending $710M for the three acquisitions, UA got the largest digital fitness community with over 160M registered users, hundreds of engineers, and years of existing user data [4]. All three were integrated into a \u201cConnected Fitness\u201d business unit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So how does all of this relate to a sportswear company? After all, founder and CEO Kevin Plank has a reminder written on his whiteboard: \u201cDon\u2019t forget to sell shirts and shoes\u201d (see Exhibit 1) [5]. The logic is threefold, and represents evolution of both UA\u2019s business and operating model:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Athletes find value in the social and analytical aspects of digital platforms<\/strong>. These sites are a viable business by themselves, and UA can capture some of that value through premium subscriptions and advertising revenue.<\/li>\n
  2. Athletes need hardware to track metrics, and UA is well-positioned to provide the accessories<\/strong>. In the last two years, UA has launched a wristband tracker, a wifi-enabled scale, and hear-rate-monitoring earbuds [6]. Eventually, Plank believes, athletes will record this data not with smartphones or plastic monitors, but with tracker-enabled clothing made, conveniently, by UA.[7]<\/li>\n
  3. Data on how athletes train, eat, and sleep provides important visibility into product usage and athlete needs<\/strong>. Previously, customer insight ended at point of sale; now, UA can see into how products are used after purchase and feed these insights into product design and marketing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    These three theses have not played out equally. While Connected Fitness as a stand-alone business unit grew revenue to $23M in the quarter ending August 2016, they lost $7.5M. More importantly, that quarter saw the departure of MayMyFitness\u2019 co-founder, Robin Thurston, who had served as CEO of Connected Fitness and whose vision was critical to the digital pivot [8].<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    How well hardware sells has yet to be seen, but UA has a spotty history in this area: Team USA speedskaters cast blame for poor performance on UA\u2019s high-tech suits during the 2014 Olympics, while a consumer electronic shirt was scrapped in 2011 for niche appeal and production difficulties [7]. While Nike dropped out of hardware for similar reasons [7], UA bravely forge on.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    The most promising digital advantage is the opportunity to change how UA does customer insight. President of Innovation Kevin Haley said of the apps, \u201cThere’s unbelievable data in there. You know their running pace, how far they go, how often they go. You literally know what brand of Greek yogurt they use.” [4] Although gear design takes on average 18 months, Haley is already incorporating data to inform their product design.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Is this the finish line? <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

    To-date, UA\u2019s digital initiative has focused more on improving athletes than on brand marketing or product-pushing. Comparatively, Nike\u2019s apps (Nike Running Club, Nike Training Club, and Nike SNKRS; now unified under the Nike+ app) place the brand front and center [2]. In fact, SNKRS is essentially a glorified sneaker shopping app [see Exhibits 2, 3]. While UA\u2019s digital initiative comes across as more authentic in creating<\/em> value for the athlete, they should not forget about the capture<\/em> value part of the business model. Compared to Nike, UA has not utilized their digital platforms to create brand resonance for their core business.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    So how should UA use their digital tools to create customer resonance? They could connect aspirational athletes with elite sponsored athletes. For instance, you could view a sample of Stephen Curry\u2019s training stats on MapMyFitness, or check out a day-in-the-life of Tom and Gisele\u2019s diet on MyFitnessPal [9]. UA could also create original training content for specific sports and feed it to athletes based on their stated training goals, or recommend specific UA products as the seasons change. One way UA has started to do this is to link runners to Zappos.com in order to repurchase UA shoes when their shoe mileage indicates they are worn out [10].<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    However, given all the information UA holds on individual athletes, this represents only the beginning. After all, UA creates value every time one of their athletes does an extra push-up or runs an extra mile \u2013 but UA really<\/em> wins only if the athlete does so wearing an Under Armour shirt.<\/p>\n

    \"snkrs-595x396\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Exhibit 2: Nike SNKRS App<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"hero-dc9019fd39f8\"<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"nikerunningclub\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Exhibit 3: Under Armour\u2019s MapMyRun vs. Nike Running Club Apps<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Word Count: 785<\/p>\n

    Sources:<\/p>\n

    [1] \u201cUnder Armour, Inc. \u2013 History,\u201d Under Armour <\/em>(2016), accessed 13 November 2016, http:\/\/www.uabiz.com\/company\/history.cfm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [2]\u00a0Yuyu Chen, \u201cUnder Armour: We’re beating Nike in connected fitness,\u201d Digiday<\/em> (7 April 2016), accessed 13 November 2016, http:\/\/digiday.com\/brands\/armour-beating-nike-connected-fitness\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [3] \u00a0Eric Stromgren, \u201cUnder Armour’s Connected Fitness Segment Grows Registered Users, Revenue in Q2 2016,\u201d Club Industry<\/em> (26 July 2016), accessed 13 November 2016, http:\/\/clubindustry.com\/manufacturers\/under-armours-connected-fitness-segment-grows-registered-users-revenue-q2-2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [4] Tom Foster, \u201cKevin Plank Is Betting Almost $1 Billion That Under Armour Can Beat Nike,\u201d Inc.com<\/em> (February 2016), accessed 14 November 2016, http:\/\/www.inc.com\/magazine\/201602\/tom-foster\/kevin-plank-under-armour-spending-1-billion-to-beat-nike.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [5] \u201cSXSW 2016: Monday Highlights,\u201d Performics<\/em> (15 March 2016), accessed 15 November 2016, http:\/\/blog.performics.com\/sxsw-2016-monday-insights-pn\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [6] \u201cUnder Armour HealthBox Fitness Tracking System,\u201d Under Armour<\/em> (2016), accessed 13 November 2016, https:\/\/www.underarmour.com\/en-us\/healthbox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [7] Sara Germano, \u201cUnder Armour Turns Ambitions to Electronic Apparel, Monitoring Apps,\u201d Wall Street Journal<\/em> (27 February 2015), accessed 13 November 2016, http:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/under-armour-looks-to-get-you-wired-with-its-apparel-1425061081<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [8] Jonah Comstock, \u201cUnder Armour downplays Connected Fitness on Q2 call,\u201d Mobihealthnews<\/em> (4 August 2016), accessed 13 November 2016, http:\/\/www.mobihealthnews.com\/content\/under-armour-downplays-connected-fitness-q2-call<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [9] \u201cUnder Armour Athlete & Team Roster | US,\u201d Under Armour<\/em> (2016), accessed 14 November 2016, https:\/\/www.underarmour.com\/en-us\/ua-roster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [10] Donna Tam, \u201cZappos, MapMyFitness will tell you when you need new running shoes,\u201d Cnet<\/em> (14 August 2014), accessed 14 November 2016, https:\/\/www.cnet.com\/news\/zappos-teams-up-with-mapmyfitness-when-its-time-new-running-shoes\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Photo Sources:<\/p>\n

    Cover Photo<\/em>: https:\/\/boards.greenhouse.io\/connectedfitness#.WCutp3fMyt8<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Exhibit 1<\/em>: DutchDigitalAgencies (@DDA_NL), \u201cDon\u2019t Forget to sell shirts and shoes – #KevinPlank #UnderArmour @sxsw #2016 #interactive #transformer,\u201d 14 March 2016 12:46 pm, Tweet.<\/p>\n

    Exhibit 2<\/em>: http:\/\/www.refinedguy.com\/2015\/02\/12\/snkrs-nike-sneaker-app\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Exhibit 3:<\/em> http:\/\/www.nike.com\/us\/en_us\/c\/nike-plus\/running-app-gps<\/a>; http:\/\/www.mapmyrun.com\/app\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Under Armour is redefining how the sporting goods game is played. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2047,"featured_media":14709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[788,16,167,2066],"class_list":["post-14443","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","category-retail","category-sports","category-under-armour"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/digitization-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"\nUnder Armour: Playing the Digital Game - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/under-armour-playing-the-digital-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Under Armour: Playing the Digital Game - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shirt? 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