Umbro "Soccer is all."

SITUATION:
Umbro, the soccer equipment and apparel manufacturer for Canada was a small athletic brand overall but a big name in soccer. Number two behind Adidas for soccer but with sales starting to blossom, Umbro was poised to take off. With the increased demand for product in the mass channels, and in anticipation of Nike launching into the soccer space, Umbro was in need of new brand positioning and a marketing strategy that would ensure a leadership position going forward.

STRATEGY:
After conducting comprehensive market analysis, competitive reviews, focus group studies and customer research we learned a few things, namely:

Our biggest obstacle and yet our biggest strength was, that the sport we served - soccer - was competing against more popular sports such as hockey, baseball, basketball and golf more awareness
Our loyal consumers considered soccer to be a superior sport to the others because it took more athletic ability and raw talent to play the sport and so our strategy was to align our brand with this advantage

We developed a new brand position of "Soccer is all." And we used images of our endorsed athletes in amazing athletic poses with descriptors poking fun at the other sports but reinforcing the superior qualities of our sport, and therefore our brand.

(Hockey): No icing. No line change. No stick to lean on. Umbro - Soccer is all.
(Baseball): No rain delay. No pinch runners. No walking. Umbro - Soccer is all.
(Golf): No caddy. No umbrellas. No mulligan. Umbro - Soccer is all.
(Basketball): No time outs. No free throws. No three pointers. Umbro - Soccer is all.

RESULTS:
Umbro brand awareness grew by 25%. Umbro sales grew from $9 million to $18 million to $24 million over the two year period and Umbro became the # 1 brand for soccer in Canada ahead of Adidas.

NOTE:
Two years later we joined with Umbro USA and worked with San Francisco ad agency BBDO to develop the next evolution of the brand - Umbro Only Soccer which as you can see continued with the same brand position and overall message which continued to strengthen the brand.