Background Information on the Entrepreneurial Business, Under Armour, and Their PR Agency, Catalyst

For my project I am researching the connection between PR and entrepreneurship. I want to see how brand new companies are able to obtain PR if no one has ever heard of them. Then, I want to see how start-up businesses regulate their advertising and PR once they obtain it. I want to compare different companies’ PR techniques and see what is more effective. Lastly, and most importantly, I want to find out how difficult it is and what challenges are presented to start-up businesses when trying to obtain advertising and PR opportunities.

The company that I am going to focus on most is Under Armour. This is because this business was started by an entrepreneur, our very own Kevin Plank, and now is a major company and has a PR agency working for them. The PR agency that currently works for Under Armor is called Catalyst. They work with many other big name companies such as, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Subway, Purina, etc.

Under Armour’s business began in the basement of Kevin Plank’s grandmother in 1996, making only $17,000. By the end of 1997, Plank was moving production operations to a factory in Ohio and has orders filled for $100,000. How did everything expand so quickly for Plank? Advertising, most of Plank’s, if not all, advertising came from word of mouth recommendations from fellow teammates and friends. The door to major contracts began after Plank’s product was advertised in USA Today’s front page by Oakland Raiders quarterback, Jeff George. Next, an equipment manager from Georgia Tech was asking Plank for a shipment of shirts. So began the process of procuring contracts with other Division I football teams such as Arizona State University and North Carolina State.

As the contracts and popularity began to growth, Under Armour became a more advertised brand. The company’s next step was to join with a PR agency to hand all press releases and advertising. Under Armour released their first television ad in 2003 along with the logo, that now brands the name Under Amour, “Protect this House”.
My questions to the expert(s) to the experts are 1.) is Under Armour (UA) an atypical or typical company in regards to how it was initially advertised and how it joined a PR company, it being a start-up business. And 2.) is it possible for start-up companies to gain as much recognition as Under Armour does, without partnering with a PR agency? From a business profession perspective, is it likely for a start-up business to do as well as UA did, that quickly, without outside help (i.e.: PR/Advertising agency).