“We started this thing, and now we’re on top. Everybody’s trying to knock us off,” a football player barks in the ad, challenging his squad before a big game.
Under Armour rode that campaign to become the third-largest sportswear brand, behind Nike and Adidas, but today it is having a hard time living up to its own rallying cry.
It faces fierce price competition from larger rivals, and changing consumer preferences have sent its shoppers online and into the arms of a bevy of new contenders. Investors have taken note, sending the stock down 36 percent year-to-date.
The resulting tumult has led to the biggest challenge yet for founder Kevin Plank, a University of Maryland alum.
As sales growth has slowed — the Baltimore-based company reported its second quarterly loss in a row last week — Plank has brought in fresh leadership and laid off 280 employees in search of a new direction.
Under Armour’s executives cast the company as a victim of its own success, a still-ascendant titan of retail that now must pivot to stay profitable.
“We’re admittedly making less money, but we’re using that money to invest in our business,” Plank said in a conference call last week with investors. He later added: “The terrain has changed, and so must we.”