The underdog that killed Adidas: Why Under Armour is a perfect fit for Jarryd Hayne

JARRYD Hayne can finally get out of his hotel thanks to a major sponsorship with sportswear giant Under Armour. But where did the company come from?

The story behind Hayne’s Under Armour

NFL star recruit Jarryd Hayne fronted Australian TV screens this morning to announce his first major sponsorship deal since signing with the San Francisco 49ers, teaming up with footwear and apparel giant Under Armour.

“This happened over the course of a couple of months going back and forth,” Hayne told Channel Nine’s Today show. “It was great to get the deal done.

“Yes, to be with the company, it is all about the underdogs and that’s something that I have loved and the presentation was great that I [saw] many months ago. There are some great guys on board, Patty Mills, Stephen Curry [both NBA stars] and blokes like that who’ve taken America by storm.”

Under Armour has built its brand on the underdog story, but it can hardly be called an underdog anymore — last year, it overtook Adidas as the second-biggest sportswear brand in the US behind Nike.

Hayne’s signing is just the latest example of the sportswear brand’s aggressive sponsorship strategy that founder Kevin Plank has pushed since the company’s roots in Baltimore nearly 20 years ago — give it to elite athletes, and let them talk about the product for you.

Plank, who started the business in his grandmother’s basement in 1996 with $US15,000, has roped in everyone from Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps to golfer Jordan Spieth and even Muhammad Ali to tell the Under Armour story.

And it’s purely functional: Plank pitches Under Armour as a tool to help the athletes perform, and wants the athletes just as invested in the company’s success as he is.

Under Armour’s biggest athlete is NFL superstar Tom Brady, whose unique deal actually includes an equity stake in the company. According to Plank, in 2011 when the company’s stock was getting hammered, Brady sent him a text message: “What’s up with the stock? I’m buying more tonight.”

Plank first came up with the idea during his time playing football at the University of Maryland. Frustrated at constantly having to change his sweat-soaked cotton shirts, he decided to do something about it.

“I was a not-big-enough, not-fast-enough football player who wanted a little bit of an edge on the field,” he told The Washington Post in 2014. “I figured my own sweat, if I could get that off my body, and more importantly, the weight that stood behind it, that would help.”

Writing in the Harvard Business Review in 2012, Plank explained his marketing strategy.

“When we started out, the way companies used endorsements was fairly simple: You put the athlete in an ad or hoped your logo showed clearly on TV during games,” he wrote.

“In the past few years that’s changed, too. As athletes continue to build their own brand identities, they seek endorsements that reflect their lifestyle and values. A successful endorsement should facilitate a conversation between the brand and the athlete and between the athlete and the consumer.

“Today social media give us infinitely more opportunities to tell our story. Most of our athletes are on Twitter, and our marketing department has social media experts. They’re usually 25, with two years of experience, but they know more about this stuff than anybody else.

“Looking at how communication has changed in the past few years, with the emergence of Facebook and mobile technology, it’s hard to say how the endorsement business is going to change over the next decade. I do know that we’ll continue to embrace those changes.”

Signing Hayne is good timing for Under Armour, which nearly tripled its revenue between 2010 and 2014, last year bringing in $4.44 billion ($US3.084 billion) globally. The company is in the process of rolling out Australian retail stores, with the first expected to open some time this year.

The flagship stores will complement an exclusive reseller arrangement with Rebel. Plank told investors in 2013 Australia represented the company’s biggest opportunity.

“Jarryd epitomises everything we stand for as a brand — hard work, will and determination” said Under Armour Australia managing director Will Phillips.

“He is writing his own story and we are excited to watch it unfold. Under Armour is proud to support him on this journey.”

Proud to add @JarrydHayne_1 to the @UnderArmour roster. #TeamUA #ProtectThisHouse #IWILL @UnderArmourAust pic.twitter.com/OGGaU5fwGI

— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) September 13, 2015

Originally published as The underdog that killed Adidas: Why Under Armour is a perfect fit for Jarryd Hayne