Under Armour and Dwayne Johnson: Social Media Marketing Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the social media marketing strategies employed by Under Armour, a global sportswear brand, and Dwayne Johnson, a prominent actor and fitness personality. The introduction highlights the significance of social media marketing in the current business landscape, particularly through celebrity endorsements, using the Under Armour and Dwayne Johnson partnership as a prime example. The report delves into the brand and celebrity descriptions, target customer analysis, and the social media channels utilized by both entities, focusing on strengths, weaknesses, and recommended strategies. It examines Under Armour's use of Twitter and Facebook, its reliance on celebrity endorsements, and the 'Project Rock' sub-brand. Dwayne Johnson's active presence on Facebook and Instagram, his high engagement levels, and his focus on fitness-related content are also discussed. The report concludes with recommendations for both Under Armour, including the use of regional celebrities and a focus on product utility, and Dwayne Johnson, suggesting a balance in promotional content and a broader approach to product usage. This analysis aims to provide valuable insights into effective social media marketing techniques and strategies, especially in the context of celebrity endorsements.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Social media marketing
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Introduction
In the current business scenario, social media forms an important medium for the
marketers in reaching out to their target customers. This is due to the reason that social media
platforms are well penetrated across the world and huge chunk of the global population is
actively involved in it. However, with the increase in the preferences and competition in the
social media sector, marketers are in the need for innovative approaches to attract the customers
and one of these approaches is to communicate through the official social media handle of any
celebrity. This is well effective because these types of endorsements are being done from the
personal id of the celebrities and thus forms a sense of authenticity among the targeted
customers. Among the latest trends of celebrity endorsements of the products in the social media,
the partnership between Under Armour and Dwayne Johnson topped the chart. This is due to the
reason that according to the survey being done by Spotted, the partnership between these two
entities ranked highest in terms of public perception. Thus, there might be a few characteristics
of this partnership that lead their way to the top over the others.
This paper will analyze these characteristics of this partnership along with discussing
about the two identified entities. In addition, the target customer analysis will also be done and
the analysis over the social media channels being used by both Under Armour and Dwayne
Johnson in communicating with their target customers. Based on the gaps to be identified, a few
recommendations will also be discussed.
Brand and celebrity description
Under Armour is an Australian sports apparel brand operating across the world and their
product portfolio includes footwear, sports goods and causal apparels. They are also one of the

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leading sportswear brands outside of Europe and United States to compete with the leading
players in this sector such as Adidas and Nike. They are constantly working towards covering the
larger global market and achieve the market leadership position. In doing so, Under Armour is
having partnerships with number of celebrities across different fields for their brand
endorsements including Dwayne Johnson.
On the other hand, Dwayne Johnson is a wrestler turned actor predominantly working in
Hollywood movies. He was one of the biggest stars of WWE till 2004 when he retired in
pursuing his acting career. Later he also got huge success in Hollywood also and currently is one
of the highest paying film stars in the world. He was also named as one of the top 100 influential
people in the world as of 2016. Moreover, Dwayne Johnson is also a fitness freak and he runs his
own of fitness video series through his personal social media handle. Thus, it can be concluded
that the market positioning of Under Armour as an active lifestyle and sport brand is getting
perfectly matched with the fitness freak personality of Dwayne Johnson.
Target customer analysis
Identification of the target customers for Under Armour will be done based on different
segmentation variables in order to cover the different perspectives. In terms of the demographic
variables, customers between the age group of 18 and 30 are the primary target customers. This
is due to the reason that this age group is boasting of young group of people from both the
genders who are having the purchasing power as well as preferences for active lifestyles.
Moreover, this age group is also more health conscious and thus their awareness towards sports
goods is more. In terms of the geographic segmentation, customers from the Tier I regions are
being targeted due to the fact that customers from the metropolitan regions are having the

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financial capability as well as awareness about the different sportswear brands. They will also
have more preferences for leisure and active lifestyles. In terms of the behavioral variable,
customers with having the preferences for value for money products are targeted as Under
Armour provides the best value for money products as compared to their competition. Thus, it
can be concluded that from different perspectives, the target customers of Under Armour are
majorly the younger generations.
Social media channels of Under Armour
It is identified that the major two social media channels being used by Under Armour in
communicating with their target customers are Twitter and Facebook. Both these social media
platforms are leading in the world in terms of active subscriptions. Thus, Under Armour is
targeting in catering to maximum number of customers across the world. It is also identified that
the same content is being promoted trough their both Facebook and Twitter channels. Thus,
uniformity is being maintained in their social media approaches. It is identified that one of the
major strengths of Under Armour in terms of communicating with their customers is the
extensive use of the celebrities. The social media strategy of Under Armour involves the
personal id of the celebrities. Thus, the level of authenticity among the customers is getting
increased when the products of Under Armour are getting promoted from the personal social
media handle of the celebrities. Another major strength of the social media strategy of Under
Armour is partnering with the ideal celebrities in line to their brand positioning. Dwayne
Johnson is already known for his fitness and sports personality and thus endorsement of the
sportswear products of Under Armour is helping in creating positive brand recall among the
customers. Another strength identified for their footwear offerings is initiating a new sub brand
based on the celebrity. Under Armour is selling the products endorsed by Dwayne Johnson under

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the Project Rock name. This is further helping them to communicate the relationship between
them and Swayne Johnson and creating positive impression among the customers.
However, on the other hand, a few weaknesses are also being identified such as
overdependence on the celebrity. This is due to the reason that while some of the competitors of
Under Armour are communicating the features and advancements in their sneakers, Under
Armour is leveraging on the brand value of Dwayne Johnson. Hence, the core features of their
products are getting diluted. Another major weakness for Under Armour identified is the absence
of regional celebrities rather they are relying on the global celebrities. Even as it is helping them
to maintain their global branding but the popularity of the global celebrities is limited in different
regions and in this case the market penetration of Under Armour is getting affected.
Social media channels of Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Johnson is one of the most active celebrities in the social media currently. It is
identified that he is majorly using Facebook and Instagram in communicating with others. The
major reason of this of using Instagram over twitter is because with the Instagram, he is being
able to share his daily activities with audio video aid. It is also identified that Dwayne Johnson is
majorly sharing his daily routine preferably his workout sessions alongside the promotional
content for Under Armour. One of the major strengths of his social media approach is high level
of engagement. This is due to the reason that Dwayne Johnson is actively updating his social
media profile periodically and this is ensuring the engagement with the social media users. They
are more interacting through the content shared by him. Thus, the average number of viewers for
the content shared by Dwayne Johnson is more and this is further helping Under Armour to gain
more viewership. Another identified strength of his social media strategy is sharing the content

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based on his personal positioning in the market. For example, Dwayne Johnson is known for
fitness and sports personality and each of the content being shared by him including the
promotional content is based on fitness and sports. This is helping in getting favorable recall
value from the viewers.
However, there are few weaknesses also being identified with one of the major
weaknesses is the adverse impact on the trustworthiness among the targeted customers. This is
due to the reason that sharing of promotional contents in major portion of time is actually
reducing the authenticity of him among the viewers. At one of point of time, they will perceive
each one of the contents being shared by Dwayne Johnson as paid. Another weakness identified
for him is the one way communications in the social media platforms. The contents being shared
by Dwayne Johnson are being responded with huge number of views and feedbacks, which
remained unattended. Thus even though Dwayne Johnson is communicating with the viewers
regarding the new Project Rock sneakers but it is only getting communicated in one way.
Recommended steps for Under Armour
It is recommended that Under Armour should be involved more regional celebrities in
their social media strategy. This is due to the reason that involvement of the regional celebrities
will ensure better market penetration for them. For instance, Dwayne Johnson is being
extensively used by Under Armour India to target the Indian customers. It should be noted that
due to his previous wresting stint and current presence in movies, Dwayne Johnson is having
huige popularity among the Indian audience but that is limited. In this case, it is recommended
that Under Armour should involve any cricketing stars and movie stars from Indian film industry
to prevent this limitation. It will also ensure better cultural consideration in the marketing

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strategy of Under Armour. On the other hand, it is also recommended that they should also
market their sneakers based on their utility rather just depending on the star value. There are
certain sections of customers, which can only be attracted by providing utility. This will also
enhance the branding of Under Armour over anything. Lastly, it is recommended that Under
Armour should extent their marketing in different other social media platforms. For instance,
presence of Under Armour in Weibo and WeChat will help them to cater to larger Chinese
population.
Recommended steps for Dwayne Johnson
It is recommended that Dwayne Johnson should balance the share of his paid promotions
due to the reason that over-sharing of paid promotions is affecting his authenticity. Thus,
balancing between sharing this and his personal content will ensure that occasional paid
promotions will be perceived positively by the customers. It is also recommended that Dwayne
Johnson should initiate more specific cultural considerations in social media promotions. This
will enhance the effectiveness of his contents. For instance, working for Under Armour India
should involve more local factors such as languages to create personalized experiences for the
target customers. This can also increase the market penetration for both him and the Under
Armour. It is identified that Dwayne Johnson is maintaining uniformity in sharing his contents
across the world, which is actually helping in targeting the customers in universal manner but it
is losing out in terms of penetrating in a particular market. Lastly, it is also recommended that
Dwayne Johnson should also promote the alternative usages of the Under Armour sneakers other
than just for hardcore fitness regime. This is due to the reason that majority of the social media
content being shared by Dwayne Johnson involves him doing hardcore training, which is not
applicable for the major customer sections. Thus, he should take more mainstream approach and

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promote the alternative usages of the sneakers, which can fulfill the daily needs of the target
customers. It will also increase the brand resonance among the target customers.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that social media marketing is the key for success for Under
Armour and coupled with the celebrity endorsements, they are gaining good exposure among the
target audiences. Moreover, the partnership between the Under Armour and Dwayne Johnson is
ideal because of their background in same line. In this paper, the advantages that they are gaining
are identified and discussed. However, a few weaknesses are also identified from their current
social media approaches, which are restricting their potentiality. Based on these weaknesses, a
few recommendations are also discussed from both Dwayne Johnson and Under Armour. These
recommended steps can help them to further improve their approaches.

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Appendix

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