Reading: Market Penetration Example

Under Armour

Market penetration: focus on current products and current markets in order to increase market share

Photo of baseball player Bryce Harper
Under Armour promotes its products through sponsorship agreements with celebrity athletes, professional teams, and college athletic teams.

Market penetration requires strong execution in pricing, promotion, and distribution in order to grow market share.

Under Armour is a good example of a company that has demonstrated successful market penetration. The company sells performance apparel, and in recent years it has surpassed Adidas to become the number-two athletic-wear provider in North America. The company has persistently focused on selling athletic footwear, clothing, and accessories, and was able to capture a leadership position in the market with that strategy.

Throughout 2014, Under Armour fueled its growth by focusing largely on promotion, distribution, and consistent product. As a result the company could claim major success—especially relative to major competitors Nike and Adidas—in the fight for its share of the fitness apparel market.

Like Nike, Under Armour’s has been very effective at developing inspiring advertisements that feature well-known male and female athletes. The following video ads are examples:

You can view the transcript for “Rule Yourself | Stephen Curry”. (opens in new window)
(https://oerfiles.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/WM+Marketing/Transcriptions/RuleYourselfStephenCurry.txt)

You can view the transcript for “Misty Copeland – I WILL WHAT I WANT”. (opens in new window)
(https://oerfiles.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/WM+Marketing/Transcriptions/MistyCopelandIWILLWHATIWANT.txt)

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Introduction to Marketing I (MKTG 1010) Copyright © 2020 by NSCC & Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.