The Takeover? Under Armour Launches New Basketball Shoe

Over the weekend, Under Armour launched a basketball shoe line called Micro G., which is promoted by Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks.  With the tag line, I Think You Hear Us Coming, Under Armour hopes to overtake Nike as the leading basketball shoe on the market.  Although no major ad buys are planned, Under Armour did produce a :15 promo w/ Brandon Jennings.  It'll be interesting to see what other plans Under Armour has to make a splash.  I hope they don't expect Brandon Jennings to do all of the heavy lifting by himself.  If so, no one's going to "hear them coming" with this soft, quiet launch.

Since this is Under Armour's second attempt at entering the footwear market, I expected a bit more.  Remember in 2008, they ran an ad during the Super Bowl announcing a new shoe line, which subsequently failed. It would've been nice to see Under Armour find the happy medium between balling out by buying a Super Bowl ad and doing the minimum.  It exists.

Well, despite no major ad buys, Kevin Plank, Under Armour CEO, did return armed with backup.  He recruited three Nike execs to help resurrect Under Armour's footwear line.  You know how the old saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em; but in this case, Plank had them join him.  Smart.  But is that enough to compete with the billion dollar marketing budget Nike has to spend?  Or the roster of professional athletes signed to Nike? Or all of the Nike endorsed teams on the AAU and college basketball level?  Nike is connecting with this market at a young age and building brand loyalty, which is key.

Don't get me wrong, Under Armour deserves a round of applause for redefining performance apparel, but I still think it's going to be extremely difficult for Under Armour to gain a substantial piece of Nike's 95% market share.

Although I'm heavily into sports, I traded sneakers for heels a long time ago and can't remember the last time I bought some kicks that weren't going to be used for running or workouts.  However, I do know style, and these Under Armour sneakers aren't speaking to me.  Maybe it's because Nike has dominated the basketball shoe market for so long, but these sneakers look real generic to me. Like, if I was 12 years old and my mom brought these home, I would feel some type of way.  Maybe it's just me, but there's something about that swoosh that makes your sneaker look official.  On second thought, it's definitely not just me.  Nike has a choke hold on 95% of the basketball shoe market for a reason.

What do you think?  Does Under Armour stand a chance at overtaking Nike, something that long time rivals Reebok and Adidas have been unable to do?

 
PUSH PLAY: UNDER ARMOUR BASKETBALL SHOES