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Rio Olympics Olympics Sports Marketing

Under Armour's Kevin Plank reveals how much the Olympics has boosted the brand

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By Tony Connelly, Sports Marketing Reporter

August 17, 2016 | 3 min read

Under Armour’s approach to marketing around the Olympics has highlighted the potential for non-official sponsors to capitalise on the Game’s new relaxed marketing rules, after the company’s chief executive revealed that stock was up by almost 10 per cent since 5 August.

Under Armour

Under Armour

Speaking on CNBC's ‘Power Lunch’ show, Under Armour’s chief executive, Kevin Plank, said the brand’s stock was up by more than 9 per cent since the start of the Rio Olympics.

"Really where we're making our dollars is in the U.S., and we have to find ways to parse off dollars that we can utilize and stretch on a global basis. The Olympics is a great example of that. It's a much bigger and longer global play," said Plank.

Under Armour’s success during the Olympics has been boosted by the marketing with its brand ambassador Michael Phelps, who clinched his 18th gold medal in Rio to become the most successful Olympian of all time with a total of 22 medals.

The Phelps ad within the ‘Rule Yourself’ campaign is currently the second most shared ad of the 2016 Olympics, behind only Channel 4's Paralympics spot "We're The Superhumans.". The Droga5-led ad shows the 31 year-old swimmer alone in a pool surrounded by darkness as ‘The Last Goodbye’ by The Kills plays, a nod to the swimmer’s fifth and final Games.

"We made a bet on Michael this year. When we did the ad five months ago, it wasn't a sure thing that Michael was going to have the games that he has had, and I think he's obviously the story," said Plank.

The Baltimore-based sports brand’s surge in stock comes despite missing two of its highest profile athletes at the Olympics in Basketball player Stephen Curry and golfer Jordan Speith.

Discussing the absence of its two high profile stars Plank added: "Without two of our highest profile athletes here, still having the bang for the buck that we have for this Olympics, I think we're pretty proud of the company that's been built. We're bigger than any one individual, any one person."

Other aspects of Under Armour’s success can be attributed to its renewed focused on beating Nike and Adidas at their own game, by channeling its efforts into creating and seeding social video in the hope it can secure a bigger share of voice around its athletes.

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