According to Morgan Stanley analysts, Under Armour has been touted as one of the fasted growing sports brands in history and is expected to reach an astounding $20 billion revenue by the year 2025. But what is their recipe for such fast growing success?

Founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, Under Armour celebrate their 20th birthday this year, demonstrating their youthful side in comparison to other major brands in the industry like Nike and Adidas. However, the old cliché that age is just a number is highly applicable in UA’s case. Having overtaken Adidas in the US sportswear market last year, the only company standing in UA’s way from becoming the biggest sportswear brand in North America is Nike. It may sound like a tough ask considering Nike have dominated the industry for such a long period of time, but UA are unquestionably out there to defy the odds. If they can continue to perform and show increased growth in the US and expand across other continents, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them become the biggest sports brand worldwide, never mind just the US.

With youth sometimes comes naivety in business, yet UA have showed a maturity and deliberateness in their journey to get to where they are now. Unlike other young sports brands whose primary focus is to attract the masses by throwing their brand at anyone and everyone, UA have adopted a more selective approach to their sponsorship tactics. Sid Jatia, the Vice President of direct-to consumer and omnichannel digital marketing, stated that a key ingredient to UA’s rapid success has been their ‘more patient’ strategy towards athlete endorsement. By this I mean, paying sports personalities to become ambassadors of their brand in an attempt to increase the desirability of their product. Celebrity endorsement is another term used more commonly in other industries such as fashion and fragrance, for example David Beckham has endorsed numerous brands from multiple industries such as Adidas, H&M, Haig Club Whiskey, Sainsbury’s, Samsung and more recently Breitling Watches. Beckham is one of the most wanted figures for brands across the world, but he certainly doesn’t come at a cheap price, according to Forbes he has made approximately $42 million from brand endorsements, for some companies it has been an expensive but highly rewarding job.

Nonetheless, back to UA and their unique approach to sponsoring athletes, they conduct and have great belief in long-term research on their potential ambassadors, 5-10 years to be more precise. UA tend to support athletes and teams with great potential for future success as it is more in keeping with their brand values and vision. This would seem relatively risky, especially if the chosen personalities don’t live up to expectation, however with a team dedicated to this type of research, UA are feeling very confident of reeling in some of the top sporting starts of the future. This method has already paid of with a number of sports men and women achieving major sporting success and there is undoubtedly more to come.

If we analyse a selection of athletes who UA have sponsored in recent years, we can see there is generally a pattern in terms of age, performance levels at the time of contract agreement and more importantly their personality and ambition.

Tottenham Hotspur finished 6th in the Barclays Premier League before UA agreed their first kit deal in the English top tier. Spurs a club with plenty of young and determined players with great potential, exactly the type of club that UA want to be associated with. Last year, we saw Tottenham chase Leicester all the way till the last 2 games, almost disappointingly finishing 3rd but some would debate it wasn’t a fair reflection on their exhilarating and impressive season. UA have now agreed a sponsorship with Southampton FC for the next seven years, another young and entertaining side that will be looking to achieve great things in the upcoming years.

Looking outwith football, UA now have a portfolio filled with high-profile athletes who have grown in popularity and success alongside their brand. Andy Murray was acquired by UA in 2014 after his Adidas deal came to an end and has recently won the 2016 Wimbledon Championship. Anthony Joshua the British boxing sensation who is yet to lose a fight at professional level has cruised to world, Olympic and commonwealth titles and is massively popular among boxing fans worldwide. US golfer, Jordan Spieth was 7th in the world when Under Armour signed him, he’s now winner of two majors at only 22 years old and has already broken multiple golfing records. NFL’s Tom Brady and NBA’s Stephen Curry are another few A-list names UA have on-board who will now play a pivotal role in the future plans for the brand. Dwayne Johnson, the former WWE wrestler, also known as ‘The Rock’, now actor, producer and a well-known gym fanatic is also a key UA ambassador, helping design some of the latest gym clothing. Johnson has one of the largest followings on Instagram with almost 60 million followers, regularly posting motivational videos in UA apparel and inspiring a younger generation of online community, again in keeping with the UA ethos.

UA’s patience and selectiveness when pursuing their sponsorship strategy has given them a competitive advantage over other brands in the industry. Their attention to detail and belief in their own techniques is highly commendable in itself as they continue to upset critics and prove to the world they are serious contenders to eventually become the biggest global sportswear brand. They are meticulously conquering new demographics year upon year, building a larger pool of customers and attaining some of the finest and most exciting names in sport. UA are showing the world that quality can be more fulfilling than quantity in the business of sport. They have a set a benchmark for new sports brands to follow yet they have positioned themselves almost perfectly that more and more people are becoming intrigued and attached to the brand with each success they have. UA’s current high-profile athletes have and are continuing to take the brand to new levels with unparalleled successes in major competitions, both parties are exactly where they want to be, at the top of the game with the spotlight shining very brightly upon them.