Under Armour Makes Its Move
September 24th 2008 14:38
Under Armour has made its first splash in the basketball apparel market by announcing that they have signed Brandon Jennings to an endorsement deal. You might remember that name. Brandon Jennings made news earlier this year by choosing to skip college and sign a professional basketball contract with a European team. Jennings signed with Italian team, Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, and now will be wearing Under Armour basketball shoes when he suits up this upcoming season. Jennings apparently benefitted from the fact that no shoe companies were interested in anyone in this year’s draft class. Derrick Rose signed with adidas but Michael Beasley has not signed a shoe deal and no shoe company is expected to pay more than $1.5 million per year for any of this year’s draftees. Jennings is the first basketball athlete to sign with Under Armour and I think that it is a good move for both parties. For Under Armour, in order to make a splash in the basketball shoe market, they had to do something that was outside the realm of what the major shoe companies have done. What better way to do that than to sign the high school basketball player that bucked the trend of going to college for one year and then heading to the NBA by deciding to play professional ball in Europe. Also, he could possibly be a number one pick in the NBA draft within the next couple of years. For Jennings this is a good move because he becomes their first basketball endorser and essentially becomes the poster child for their basketball line of products. He has again shown his ability to think outside the box. It will be interesting to see what other moves this kid is going to make. I’ll make it a point to follow what he does while he is playing in Italy this season.
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