From Baltimore Business Journal
Review by Sam Dowell in KIN 332 (Section 1)
Under Armour and the University of Maryland open up the college football season this year with a uniform that caught just about everyone’s eye. The design was so radical that it sparked conversations and got everyone talking about the University of Maryland. Interestingly enough, there were as many negative opinions as there were positive ones. The two-sided jerseys seemed to serve the purpose of giving Under Armour and the University of Maryland plenty of exposure.
The specific jerseys that the Terrapin players sported were the Maryland Pride uniforms which showcased the two different patterns on the Maryland flag. This was a great marketing move because it garnered support from the Maryland citizens as UMD wanted people to know that state pride is an integral value of the university. The Maryland Pride jerseys are one of 32 different combination patterns that Under Armour has designed for the 2011 season. Under Armour is taking a page out of Nike’s book, who designed the Oregon Duck’s uniforms that became incredibly popular last season. The one thing that both Oregon and Maryland’s jersey had in common was the fact that they were both eye catching and they created free publicity. Free publicity is a fantastic way to market a university but the only downside is there is no way to control what the public thinks of the product once it is out there. Some observers from Maryland’s season opener described the uniforms as “wild” and “hideous.” This is the one downfall for designing such a bold product but in the end, the positives seem to outweigh the negatives and the jerseys served the purpose of getting the program noticed and talked about nationwide. Under Armour is at the forefront in changing the strategy of a traditional marketing program. Under Armour as well as Nike are starting to put more emphasis on appearance than on merchandise. They are customizing helmets, gloves, football pants, etc, to garner as much attention as possible. Fans don’t regularly purchase these products so; these schools are counting on adding fan support through the style and originality of their gear. I personally think this would be most effective establishing a larger fan base with the youth population. This market loves the cool, sleek new jersey styles and is less likely to be loyal to another university. Once the fan base is established, the merchandise will also become more and more popular. The University of Maryland blazed a new trail with their creative jerseys and I expect other Universities to come up with some wild designs themselves to get their name out nationally as well.
Monday, September 26, 2011
"Pitt, Syracuse to join the Atlantic Coast Conference"
From The Business Journal
Review by Elliot Rosenfeld in KIN 435
The article “University of Pittsburg, Syracuse to Join The ACC,” by Owen Covington discusses the current changes going on in college sports. Syracuse and Pittsburgh have decided to leave the Big East after being members for 30 years in order to ensure some stability. This is the first real move this year towards super conferences and many believe it is going to start a serious domino effect to change all of college sports.
The main reasons for all these changes is money, but more specifically the ACC wanted to expand because it will allow them to renegotiate their TV contract with ESPN that they signed just a year ago. The current deal (12 years, and $1.86 billion dollars) was signed in July in 2010, but the addition of these two high profile teams should allow the ACC to increase that amount substantially. ACC officials are hoping that the new deal will be closer to the deal the PAC-12 just signed (12 years, $3 billion). Each ACC School is currently receiving 11 million dollars but that amount should also rise if a new network deal is agreed upon.
Pittsburg represents the 24th biggest TV market, and Syracuse makes up the 82nd biggest TV market in America. Along with this, Syracuse also has major footholds in New York City, which greatly attracted the ACC. There is some uncertainty when these teams will actually join the ACC however. The Big East requires each team to pay a $5 million dollar exit fee and wait a 27-month period, but the ACC is hopeful that the wait period will be reduced.
In the article, the Atlantic Coast Conference has announced that it has accepted Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburg into the its conference. The departure of Syracuse and Pittsburg from the Big East may cause realignment in the rest of the conference and negatively affect the Big East. According to the Big East bylaws, Big East requires team that leaves to give a 27 month notification and pay a hefty $5 million exit fee. According to the article, the ACC may have more schools interested in joining their conference; another Big East school that is considering moving to the ACC is Connecticut. Even though the big move may put the Big East in danger, the ACC has the opportunity to gain much anticipation for the basketball season as well as gain Madison Square Garden as a site for a basketball tournament.
I believe that the transition of Syracuse and Pittsburg to the ACC will be great opportunity for the conference. The ACC has the chance to expand their networks to New York and Pennsylvania as well as create a great buzz around the conference during the basketball season; the move will also bring money to the conference. However I feel that the future of the Big East is looking very bleak; the lost of two solid teams and possibly Connecticut could cause the conference to lose a lot of money as well as shrink their market and their buzz during basketball season.
Review by Elliot Rosenfeld in KIN 435
The article “University of Pittsburg, Syracuse to Join The ACC,” by Owen Covington discusses the current changes going on in college sports. Syracuse and Pittsburgh have decided to leave the Big East after being members for 30 years in order to ensure some stability. This is the first real move this year towards super conferences and many believe it is going to start a serious domino effect to change all of college sports.
The main reasons for all these changes is money, but more specifically the ACC wanted to expand because it will allow them to renegotiate their TV contract with ESPN that they signed just a year ago. The current deal (12 years, and $1.86 billion dollars) was signed in July in 2010, but the addition of these two high profile teams should allow the ACC to increase that amount substantially. ACC officials are hoping that the new deal will be closer to the deal the PAC-12 just signed (12 years, $3 billion). Each ACC School is currently receiving 11 million dollars but that amount should also rise if a new network deal is agreed upon.
Pittsburg represents the 24th biggest TV market, and Syracuse makes up the 82nd biggest TV market in America. Along with this, Syracuse also has major footholds in New York City, which greatly attracted the ACC. There is some uncertainty when these teams will actually join the ACC however. The Big East requires each team to pay a $5 million dollar exit fee and wait a 27-month period, but the ACC is hopeful that the wait period will be reduced.
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Review by Erika Pearson in KIN 435
I believe that the transition of Syracuse and Pittsburg to the ACC will be great opportunity for the conference. The ACC has the chance to expand their networks to New York and Pennsylvania as well as create a great buzz around the conference during the basketball season; the move will also bring money to the conference. However I feel that the future of the Big East is looking very bleak; the lost of two solid teams and possibly Connecticut could cause the conference to lose a lot of money as well as shrink their market and their buzz during basketball season.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
"UGG Australia Launches Campaign Targeting Men"
From AllBusiness.com
Review by Brad Harner in KIN 435
UGG Australia, a company originally known for women’s boots, made a bold investment in a new collection of shoes targeted towards men. The company decided they needed growth and the way they were going to go about this was to introduce a new line for men. Along with the risk of starting this new line for men, they also partnered with Tom Brady to market the product to men. The new line of shoes has people talking, especially fans of the NFL. NFL fans are venting about the UGG commercial they saw, featuring Tom Brady, on their televisions during the first Monday Night Football game. UGG strategically bought this time slot because they knew there would be millions of men watching the first Monday Night Football game of the season. The company chose Brady to endorse their new collection of shoes because they believe he is a well liked, popular, athlete that can influence fans into buying the product. Constance X. Rishwain, the president of UGG Australia said, “Working with Tom allows us to celebrate the heritage of UGG and at the same time introduce it to a new generation of modern men like him who appreciate great design paired with the UGG ‘inside’ experience” The commercial attempts to stick with the modern theme of the shoe by getting hip hop artist Mos Def to accompany the “Steps” of the commercial. They came up with a title for the commercial as well to keep it simple and trendy by naming it “Steps”.
Review by Brad Harner in KIN 435
UGG Australia, a company originally known for women’s boots, made a bold investment in a new collection of shoes targeted towards men. The company decided they needed growth and the way they were going to go about this was to introduce a new line for men. Along with the risk of starting this new line for men, they also partnered with Tom Brady to market the product to men. The new line of shoes has people talking, especially fans of the NFL. NFL fans are venting about the UGG commercial they saw, featuring Tom Brady, on their televisions during the first Monday Night Football game. UGG strategically bought this time slot because they knew there would be millions of men watching the first Monday Night Football game of the season. The company chose Brady to endorse their new collection of shoes because they believe he is a well liked, popular, athlete that can influence fans into buying the product. Constance X. Rishwain, the president of UGG Australia said, “Working with Tom allows us to celebrate the heritage of UGG and at the same time introduce it to a new generation of modern men like him who appreciate great design paired with the UGG ‘inside’ experience” The commercial attempts to stick with the modern theme of the shoe by getting hip hop artist Mos Def to accompany the “Steps” of the commercial. They came up with a title for the commercial as well to keep it simple and trendy by naming it “Steps”.
My opinion
of this new collection, introduced by UGG Australia, is that they have done
everything they can for the product to catch on. Whether or not this product
actually becomes popular is something that we will have to wait and see.
Personally, I do not believe NFL fans were the ones to target because most
people watching football are not as modern and trendy as Tom Brady.
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Review by Patrick Pelletier in KIN 435
The article I chose to read was titled UGG Australia Launches Campaign Targeting Men, and was published on AllBusiness.com. Opening with a nationally televised commercial during ESPN’s Monday Night Football, UGG Australia will target men using NFL quarterback Tom Brady. UGG has high hopes and expectations for this new campaign, but it will be interesting to see how using an NFL superstar will help accomplish their goal to reach a new market.
UGG Australia’s main goal in partnering with Brady is to increase the popularity of its new men’s collection of footwear. What better way to do that then use arguably one of the most popular players in America’s most popular professional sport. The NFL fan base is a huge area of opportunity for any company and UGG is trying to capitalize on it. President Constance X. Rishwain said in the article that: “launching our men's campaign with TV illustrates the commitment we have to this initiative and to our partnership with Tom Brady." This shows that the company as a whole is dedicated to the success of this campaign. However, it may not be completely up to them.
The audience UGG Australia is trying to reach is going to be very difficult to penetrate. There are going to be a limited number of men watching the NFL that are interested in wearing these boots or that have even heard of the company. In my opinion the campaign overall won’t have a significant impact on the popularity of this collection. There are going to be people that will buy these new shoes because they associate them with Tom Brady. I think that is where most of the new sales will come from. The commercial aired on Monday Night Football will continued to be shown and I think it will have more of an impact on the casual football fan and those that just know who Brady is.
This campaign being attempted by UGG Australia definitely shows their desire to get more men wearing their product. Targeting the NFL is a great way to do this but they will most likely not get the die-hard fans to wear them. However, I think they chose the right player to endorse them because Brady has enough recognition around casual fans and those that aren’t fans to influence what people think about when they make purchasing decisions.
UGG Australia’s main goal in partnering with Brady is to increase the popularity of its new men’s collection of footwear. What better way to do that then use arguably one of the most popular players in America’s most popular professional sport. The NFL fan base is a huge area of opportunity for any company and UGG is trying to capitalize on it. President Constance X. Rishwain said in the article that: “launching our men's campaign with TV illustrates the commitment we have to this initiative and to our partnership with Tom Brady." This shows that the company as a whole is dedicated to the success of this campaign. However, it may not be completely up to them.
The audience UGG Australia is trying to reach is going to be very difficult to penetrate. There are going to be a limited number of men watching the NFL that are interested in wearing these boots or that have even heard of the company. In my opinion the campaign overall won’t have a significant impact on the popularity of this collection. There are going to be people that will buy these new shoes because they associate them with Tom Brady. I think that is where most of the new sales will come from. The commercial aired on Monday Night Football will continued to be shown and I think it will have more of an impact on the casual football fan and those that just know who Brady is.
This campaign being attempted by UGG Australia definitely shows their desire to get more men wearing their product. Targeting the NFL is a great way to do this but they will most likely not get the die-hard fans to wear them. However, I think they chose the right player to endorse them because Brady has enough recognition around casual fans and those that aren’t fans to influence what people think about when they make purchasing decisions.
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