By: Shaimaa Kraba July 14th, 2024

In the case study article, what market segments were identified and what segmentation strategies were implemented?

In the case study article, the market segments that were identified are the Men’s Athletic-Wear Market and the Women’s Apparel Market. For the Men’s athletic wear, “By 2013, Under Armour had expanded to shorts, shoes, and even hats, and was already a success within the men’s athletic-wear market, competing with powerhouses such as Nike and Adidas”(“Content Launch”). As for the Women’s Apparel Market, “By 2013, Under Armour had $2.3 billion in sales yet only $500 million came from its women’s apparel. Plank was ready to expand into the female market segment”(“Content Launch”). Furthermore, Under Armour, “At $15 million, ‘I Will What I Want’ was the largest global women’s marketing campaign Under Armour had ever run”(“Content Launch”).

What’s truly incredible about this, is that Under Armour approached these two segments differently yet in a uniform fashion which is reflected in the immense success that UA was able to achieve. For me what stood out was Plank did not allow the market’s inability, such as “Adidas’ lack of success in targeting female athletes”(“Content Launch”) to penetrate the female market to thwart him off pursuing the very campaign “in 2014 [where] Plank and his team believed they could do better and decided to take the risk of targeting women with a campaign titled ‘I Will What I Want’”(“Content Launch”). This campaign went super viral and it resulted in a staggering, “28% increase in women’s sales and a 42% increase in traffic to UA.com”(“Content Launch”). This wasn’t the only strategy that Plank and his team employed, they leveraged the power of social media and other multi-channel to market this campaign to the success that it achieved, for instance, “Following the success of Copeland’s ad, Leanne Fremar, senior VP and creative director of women’s business, thought it was a good time to release the second phase of the campaign featuring supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Wanting to integrate a stronger web presence to the campaign…”(“Content Launch”). This goes to show that Under Armour rode the wave they created to further drive the campaign to have an even stronger presence online. This was so incredible that Harvard made UA a case study to learn from.

What do you believe are four to five key points to remember when implementing segmentation strategies?

The five key points to remember when implementing segmentation strategies that can be learned from the UA case study are:

• Understand the Market and Audience:
  • “By 2013, Under Armour had $2.3 billion in sales yet only $500 million came from its women’s apparel. Plank was ready to expand into the female market segment”(“Content Launch”).
    
    This is one of the most crucial point, knowing your audience better than they know themselves has an incredible power in which the target consumer feels they resonate with your brand and company. UA actually proved this by showing that the female market was a huge untapped market goldmine and the issue lied in not knowing how to reach them in the right way, this can be contrasted by Adidas’ lack of suck in penetrating this market.
    
• Leverage Emotional and Inspirational Messaging:
  • “Debuting in July 2014, the ‘I Will What I Want’ campaign first featured American Ballet Theatre ballerina soloist Misty Copeland dancing as a voice-over reminisced how she was rejected from a top ballet academy at the age of 13 for having the ‘wrong body for ballet”(“Content Launch”).
    
    Emotional and Inspirational messaging especially in an era where feminism was on the rise and women fought hard to have their value and contribution seen as an equal in society, this story hits exactly the pain points of many women and their dreams and aspirations be subjected and subdued by rhetoric of people in positions of power. This story seeing the inner child of the ballet dancer in UA wear a global company with a global reach give her the stage that she was prevented from the academy for something she does not have control over, how her body should look for a ballerina hits those emotional strings deep. A need to appreciate the very platform and brand that went against the status quo is revolutionary. This is very symbolic of the ‘Think Different’ campaign by Apple where Apple revolutionized the market by celebrating the difference.
    
• Use Multichannel and Social Media Platforms:
  • “Plank and his team launched the campaign on a multichannel platform, with social media at its core”(“Content Launch”).
    
    I believe just as important as it is to know your target audience, it is just as important to know the multi-channels and social media to reach your audience. These two key points go hand in hand. To know your audience is to know where and how to reach them. It’s also important to not just focus on one channel, as the saying goes to not keep all the eggs in one basket, but to diversify it as that expands the reach.
    
• Create a Strong Web Presence:
  • “Following the success of Copeland’s ad, Leanne Fremar, senior VP and creative director of women’s business, thought it was a good time to release the second phase of the campaign featuring supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Wanting to integrate a stronger web presence to the campaign…”(“Content Launch”).
    
    Establishing a strong web presence in such a congested landscape especially when dominated by giants like Nike and Adidas, it’s super important to set your brand differently from the rest. UA knew what to do, when they launched the campaign they were prepared to ride the wave while it was strong to really establish their footprint in the web landscape.
    
• Measure and Analyze Results:
  • “The campaign resulted in a 28% increase in women’s sales and a 42% increase in traffic to UA.com.”(“Content Launch”).
    
    I think one of the most important aspect of Marketing that I’ve come to learn is the importance of measuring the metrics. This is so crucial as it allows to analyze the data and assess what has worked and what hasn’t. An increase of 28% in women’s sales when it was so low to begin with and an overall increase of 42% traffic to the UA.com website is no joke, these are serious numbers and they reflect the importance and success of the “I Will What I Want” campaign. One thing about Marketing is that studying the data, and theorizing and implementing by testing out the theory and then measure the metrics for the success or lack thereof. Metrics is a key point that very much is needed to remember when implementing segmentation strategies.

Identify a new market segment that you have noticed recently (during your own shopping experience online, in a commercial ad, or in a secondary resource such as a magazine) that you believe would be a great market to explore. How might you create a segmentation strategy to reach this new market segment?

A new market segment that I have noticed recently has been the socially and ethical responsibility especially in the eco-friendly space. For instance, Apple’s commitment to reducing it’s Carbon Footprint or the rise of eco-friendly products and foods and the taking of a holistic and natural alternative. Another huge rise has been the BDS movement is something that historically was leveraged against companies by their consumers to make a stark stance against human tragedies. I find that social and ethical responsibility is huge, there are ads everywhere. Some that come to mind are trucks with images of unalive fetuses that were aborted or companies such as Tesla and Apple, Samsung etc. that use batteries at the cost of the ongoing genocide in the Congo. I think about the child labour used to keep up with fast fashion and how Nike and other large brands Shein, Temu, H & M …etc have been at the crosshairs of major boycotts due to that exploitation of labour amongs the vulnerable and unbelievable inhumane conditions. There are so many BDS against Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other companies that contribute to the immense plastic waste issue and how it effects our ecosystem and oceans. There are so many countless ads that speak to these social issues and companies are expected to take a stance on these issues, for instance the war in Ukraine led to many fast food companies to change their colours of their product to the blue, white and yellow colours of the Ukraine flag and this also translates as well in the LGBTQ2S+IA community with the colour of the flag is also incorporated into their logos of the companies and product.

For myself, the one take away that I learned from my Marketing Research class is that is where the magic begins in the research. That would be my starting point, to research the market and what insights am I able to gain from it – this would be a blend of both quantitative and qualitative research. Once I’ve developed the research, this is where I start to think of developing a product, so for instance if I take the eco-friendly lens, I could suggest to UA developing a product of sustainable athletic wear made out of recycled athletic material. Once my product is developed and fined tuned, this is where I will start drafting an emotional and engaging targeted market campaign. Lastly, I will approach my company through multiple channels especially leveraging the power of social media and it’s influencers and creating a viral hashtag that invites the users to share in their experience.

Cited Works

“Content Launch.” Harvard Business School, https://services.hbsp.harvard.edu/lti/links/content-launch. Accessed 14 July 2024.

“Pin by Harper&Family.” Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/383157880778893232/. Accessed 14 July 2024.