Running Head: EA SPORTS MADDEN NFL FOOTBALL CASE STUDY
Champion Athletics
Brand Blueprint
Zack Ryle
December 10, 2013
Western Kentucky University
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The Brand Blueprint for Champion Athletics
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Situation Analysis
Industry Analysis
When we begin to analyze the apparel industry, we must look at the political,
economical, social, technological, legal and environmental issues that will affect
Champion Athletics. These issues all frame the decisions that are made by
HanesBrands Inc. and Champion Athletics.
The first area to analyze is the issues to the industry from the political
sphere. Most industries will have some level of political issues, but the sport apparel
industry is one where free market really reigns and the government does not have
as much control.
The next area to look at is the economic issues of the apparel industry. This
is probably one of the biggest issues with the apparel industry, as with most
businesses, in today’s age. With the Great Recession having hit, many companies in
the apparel business lost footing, as consumers simply weren’t spending their hard
earned money on apparel. The issues the apparel industry faced meant that many
had to change their marketing approach to earn the money that in the late 90’s was
spent as an after thought.
Social issues is the next area to cover, and is a very interesting one. One part
of the apparel business that has been shown as an issue both socially and legally is
the outsourcing of jobs to third world countries, which is done by many companies,
but sweatshop problems began with Nike, but were not limited to the apparel giant.
Max Nisen of Business Insider broke down the timeline of Nike solving its
sweatshop problem in May of this year. These types of issues were and are tough to
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deal with because social activists dig into the problem (and rightfully so) while
lawmakers are seeing what types of unfair labor laws companies are using.
Sweatshops are just one example of social and political issues that face the apparel
industry. Other issues can include topics ranging from moral stances (gay rights) to
corporate community relations.
Technological issues are the next set of issues to talk about. I see
technological not as an issue but as a benefit to the apparel industry. As technology
has grown, so too has the apparel industry. For moisture-wicking fabric to
lightweight material that keeps you warm or cool, technology has been crucial to the
success of the apparel industry. The only issue I see with technology is the fact that
industry executives may have ideas for the apparel industry that are limited by the
technology of our time.
There will always be environmental issues in regards to the apparel industry.
The main industry problem in regards to the environment is what the clothing is
made of as well as how those materials are obtained. Many companies have taken
proactive steps to show they are translucent and honest in these regards, because
companies in the past have been burned on this area, and rightfully so. It is
important that apparel companies always stay above boards and honest in their
environmental honesty, as the legal system has shown little sympathy toward
businesses who go against environmental norms.
Competitor Analysis
There are several main competitors to Champion Athletics. Some of these
competitors are what most would consider obvious (Nike, Under Armour, and
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Russell Athletic) while another competitor took me by surprise (Victoria’s Secret).
In this section, we will break down each competitor, what they provide and what
their presence is in the market.
Let’s start with the number one business in the sporting and active wear
arena, which is Nike. Nike has been the leader in this area for a long time, and their
innovative thinking and designs have led to only more success for the multi-billion
dollar company. In September of 2013, Nike’s stocks rose to nearly $74.70 per
share and their overall sales were registered at $6.97 billion more than triple that of
Champion. Of all the production Nike does throughout the world, 25% of their share
cost is in their apparel, as opposed to their shoe and other production lines. Nike is
helped by their brands, which include the Nike swoosh, the tag line Just Do It, and
Air Jordan. Currently Nike has contracts with all 32 NFL teams, 24 club and
professional basketball teams, dozens of soccer teams and more than 80 collegiate
teams. On the social media front, Nike has more than 2.4 million followers on
Twitter and has accumulated more than 15.9 million likes on Facebook.
The second competitor to talk about is Under Armour. Under Armour is one
of the major competitors to several successful parts of the Champion brand,
including their apparel and sports bra industries. Under Armour currently makes
seven different sports bras that come in different sizes and colors. 1/3 of all sport
bras are produced by Champion, but the competition “is on” according to Jessica
Higgins, a WKU alumna from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Jessica, along with several
of her friends gave me insight to the sport bra industry and what some women are
looking for when they look for sport bras. Under Armour has made great strides in
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many of their technologies and innovations, which has led to them acquiring some
strong sponsorships, which include nine different NFL players, dozens of other
professional athletes, and 19 different collegiate teams. On the social media front,
Under Armour is very active with more than 2.5 million likes on Facebook and over
266,000 Twitter followers. I do not believe Champion will ever be able to catch
Nike, but I do believe with a concentrated marketing effort, Under Armour could
catch the younger market share, which seems enamored with the UA brand.
The Russell Athletic brand would be fourth on my list of top brands for sport
or active wear apparel, behind Nike, Under Armour and Champion. Russell Athletic
is working hard to grow their brand and has really taken root in the places where
they have been able to obtained sponsorships. Russell currently has sponsorships
with ten current collegiate teams, all of Little League Baseball World Series teams,
18 former NFL teams during the 1990’s and all of the MLB teams from 1992 to
1997. As you can see with some of the sponsorships, Russell has taken the branding
strategy of clothing the amateur athlete, which is close to what Champion wants to
do, but we will elaborate on that later in this blueprint. Russell struggles in the
social media realm, as they only have 25,000 likes on Facebook and just over 5,000
Twitter followers. These numbers are honestly a joke in comparison to comparable
businesses.
The one company that may not make as much sense as the aforementioned
companies is Victoria’s Secret. The reason they are on this list of competitors is due
to their production of sport bras and yoga pants. Victoria Secret more than 40
different types of sports bras that come in all sizes and colors. Added to their sport
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bra collection is their yoga pant collection, which has become very popular in
today’s culture. Victoria’s Secret produces more than 25 different types of yoga
pants, which will rival some of the apparel produced by Champion. The market
share for Victoria’s Secret in regards to their sport bra and yoga pants production is
tough to measure because they are individual items and not just categories of
clothing items. Victoria’s Secret is the strongest of the competitors on social media
with more than 23.4 million likes on Facebook and more than 3 million followers on
Twitter. While 1/3 of the sport bras sold are from Champion, Victoria’s Secret does
provide strong competition to the future of the Champion business.
Company Analysis
Champion Athletics is unlike several other larger apparel providers in
several ways, but as we focus on the company aspect of this brand blueprint, we
must note HanesBrands Incorporated owns Champion Athletic. HanesBrands Inc.
was founded in 1901 and “is a socially responsible manufacturer and marketer of
leading everyday basic apparel under some of the world's strongest apparel brands.
HanesBrands innerwear and activewear apparel brands include Hanes, Champion,
Playtex, Bali, Maidenform, Flexees, JMS/Just My Size, barely there,
Wonderbra and Gear for Sports.”
There are several top executives who help control the overall direction of the
Champion Athletic brand. The first person in charge is the Chairman of the Board
and the Chief Executive Officer of HanesBrands Inc. Mr. Rich Noll. Others who play a
large role in shaping the brand of Champion Athletics are Co-Chief Operating Officer
The Brand Blueprint for Champion Athletics
to HanesBrands Inc. Bill Nictakis, Chief Branding Officers Sydney Falken and
President of Outerwear John Marsh.
Many of the financials mentioned in this section will be with the overall
Hanes Brand in mind, in which Champion is a part of. Below is a chart of the
financials HanesBrands Inc. from the past four years with the 2013 numbers
projected out to the point the chart was made (which was at their investor meeting
in February.)
As we can see from the charts, the net sales for the overall brand have
consistently risen over the past 5 years while the long-term debt has consistently
dropped. The other two numbers are projections I would want to see before
projecting, as it looks like both the profit and the diluted EPS have leveled off prior
to 2013.
While the outlook for HanesBrands Inc. is strong, Champion has some work
to do. The overall profit margin for Champion Athletic (and the rest of the
outerwear section) was only 5%. According to John Marsh, the last 18 months has
given Champion perspective and the new focus of the company is on the Active
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lifestyle. While I will dig into more about the active lifestyle person Champion looks
to target in the consumer analysis section, I believe we need to understand the
importance of this ideological switch for the company.
In the past, Champion Athletic focused on Athletic wear, as it was a market
that was strong in the number of consumers, but was also one that HanesBrands Inc.
and Champion were well adapted for. This new focus blends the traditional athletic
wear with the traditional casual wear and puts them into one general category. This
category is one that estimated at $46 billion. HanesBrands Inc. believes they are
well positioned with their Champion Performance brand on the athletic side, the
Hanes Brand, Champion Urban and Champion Authentic on the casual side, and C9
positioned right in the middle. These brands will all play a part in the future success
of the Champion brand toward this new mega-trend.
As for Champion’s specific financials, in 2012, Champion was number two in
the overall market share. With $2 billion in sale at retail, they are considered to be
one of the big brands. With HanesBrands Inc.’s market research showing the brand
with 92% brand awareness, the brand of Champion itself does rival that of other top
apparel brands. The company has had success in certain areas of the sport apparel
industry, including sport bras, where one in every three bras sold is a Champion bra.
The goal as a whole is to drive the cost per unit down while charging more per unit,
which will lead to margin expansion. Margin expansion is needed for a brand that
only operated with a profit margin of just over 5% in 2012.
What I found quite interesting is that in their Investor report, HanesBrands
Inc. and Champion say the following phrases: “Champion’s brand positioning is
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unique and separates us from the intense in your face attitude of our competitors.
Champion is about the enjoyment of sport and the social and interactive side of an
active lifestyle.” I will go in more depth to what this means in the Brand Audit
section of this blueprint, but it is important to note this distinction in the company
analysis to see an accurate present brand identity.
Consumer Analysis
The consumers are the heartbeat of any successful business. As they
continue to purchase products, the company will continue to thrive, but when their
purchases wane, the company’s financials do the same. Champion has long been
focused on the baby boomers, or how their financial report puts it, the aging
boomers. This is the consumer group that helped Champion rise to a new level of
clothing and who most of their sales still come from. The interesting thing about
this time in clothing is a massive demographic shift is occurring.
Chief Branding Officer of Hanes Brands Inc. Sydney Falken points to simple
facts when it comes to the numbers of consumers by 2020. Mrs. Falken estimates
that by 2020, 139 million baby boomers will be in our society, but a new generation
of boomers, entitled Second Wavers, will number approximately 200 million dollars.
These second wavers are classified as those who currently fit into the 18 to 34 year
old segment. Mrs. Falken estimates that by 2020, these second wavers will be
driving 70% of apparel spending to the tune of almost 143 billion dollars.
As mentioned in the previous section, Champion is looking to a new brand
identity within the two consumer groups (second wavers and aging boomers). This
new identity is focused on the active lifestyle. The chart below is from HanesBrands
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Inc.’s investor report and shows, among other things, that only 7% of people
surveyed wear athletic apparel only to exercise. The statistics are easy to note, as
they do back up the shift Champion is looking to make.
Brand Audit
The Brand Audit for Champion is discussed in some detail in the company
analysis section, but I will expound on it a little further in this section. As mentioned
earlier the past for the Champion brand was focused on the athletic side of the
apparel business. The future however, lies in much different hands. The future
brand identity of Champion is as a (hopeful) leader in the active lifestyle category,
which combines both the athletic lifestyle and the comfort lifestyle together. I
believe the future of the brands identity can be summed up in the two sentences
from their financial report. “Champion’s brand positioning is unique and separates
us from the intense in your face attitude of our competitors. Champion is about the
enjoyment of sport and the social and interactive side of an active lifestyle.”
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This is a very interesting view on the future of the Champion brand. The first
sentence is strong, because it separates Champion from its competitors that are very
forward with their marketing. If you look at the meteoric rise of Under Armour, for
example, you will see a strong marketing campaign that was built on a strong brand
and well made apparel. While their marketing efforts are in your face and for the
active athlete, I believe they have captured some of the market share Champion
wishes to have.
The second sentence is just as interesting as the first. Basically in this
statement, HanesBrands Inc. and Champion are admitting they do not want to target
the athletes, but they want to target those who enjoy sport and an active lifestyle. I
believe this is the wrong way of going about the shift from athletic wear to comfort
wear. Many people wear Nike and Under Armour not because they are active
athletes and get the benefit from the apparel, but because they either like to wear
what their athletes wear or they see themselves as some version of the athletes that
Under Armour markets their products for.
SWOT Analysis
a. Strengths
i. Strong brand (Hanes) owns Champion Athletics
ii. #1 in Sports Bra industry
iii. Historically one of the major players in the athletic wear
business
b. Weaknesses
i. Limited marketing behind brand currently
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ii. Switched focus early 2013 from athletic wear to active wear
iii. Consumer base for Champion is weakening without
advertisements and marketing (brand used to be well known
and has sense slowed)
c. Opportunities
i. Clean slate to market the brand
ii. New brand mark and tag line
d. Threats
i. Competition is continually growing
ii. New market (active market) Hanes has decided enter
The Challenge
As I grew up, I can think fondly on Champion Athletics. As a young boy, I
remember my dad constantly wearing champion clothes all of the time. Whether it
was mowing the lawn, working out, or just lounging around the house, he was
constantly in sweats, tee shirts or shorts from Champion Athletics. As a young boy
who constantly looked up to my father and wanted to be like him, I thought I would
always grow up wearing Champion. This changed though in the late 90’s when my
dad shifted away from Champion to brands like Nike and Russell Athletics.
Some of the best market analysis, in my opinion, is done when you sit down with
those consumers who use the product and understand why they made their
decisions. I previously sat down with my father and asked him questions ranging
from why he started wearing Champion to why he ended up going in other
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directions. His interview actually proved valuable because his reasoning behind his
decisions followed the company’s norm.
“I began wearing Champion because they were comfortable to wear when I
was playing baseball in college,” states Greg Ryle. “I continued to purchase
Champion throughout my early adult years playing racquetball and softball,
but faded off my purchases once I strayed away from the athletic life. I
switched for several reasons. For one, they (Champion) did not make clothes
in my size any more (XXXL), but more than that, I found myself drawn in to
other marketing strategies, like Russell Athletics and Under Armour. The
clothes fit well and I could wear them around the house or working out.”
So much of this fits into both the problem Champion is facing as well as the
consumer base that in some ways they have alienated. Champion has really not had
a focused marketing effort since the mid 1990’s and in many ways, Champion has
been living off of its previous successes to make their money. As stated in the Brand
Identity, Champion does not want to be intense or in your face with their marketing.
With this being said, we lead to the challenge for the brand moving forward. I see
the challenge for the brand as follows: How do you market the Champion brand to
the active lifestyle group in a way that follows HanesBrands Inc. and Champions
vision of marketing for their brands? I believe the way to solve this is to come up
with a marketing plan that will compete with rival plans while staying within the
vision HanesBrands Inc. has requested. This marketing plan should be able to be
executed with a two-year window so the company does not continue to lose market
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share while at the same time capitalizing on the new marketplace Champion would
like to be in.
Branding Strategies

Family is what Champions New Branding strategy will be focused on.
o First strategy focused toward second wavers age 25 to 34

This strategy is focused on young couples and young families

Campaign will show busy every day lives with Champion being
able to be worn at all times
o Second strategy focused on aging boomers

This strategy will feature aging boomers reconnecting with the
old Champion brand

Strategy will show families together as a whole (grandparents,
children and grandchildren) all wearing Champion

Strategy lends itself to flashbacks of families growing up
with Champion and the thought that some things never
change
o Third strategy focused on second wavers age 18 to 25

This age range is the toughest to reach as most of these
consumers do not have a full time job or expendable income

This strategy would be focused on childhood flashbacks to
family wearing Champion

Homesick college student
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A secondary strategy to reach this market would be centered
on active wear for the collegiate student.

This would show student going to class, lunch, working
out, and hanging out with friends all in Champion gear

All strategies will begin in 2014 and will end in 2016
Communications Framework
Why are you communicating?
The main reason I am looking to communicate is to help build awareness of
the Champion brand. This brand has been strong in the past, but needs help to
continue moving forward in the clothing and more specifically the active lifestyle
apparel category. Other reasons to communicate include growing the profit margin
from five percent in 2012 to 12 percent by 2016 and to help improve the overall sale
Grow profit margin from 5% to 12% by 2016 and to increase the overall sales for
the Champion brand from $2 billion dollars in 2012 to $10 billion by 2016.
Overall sales jump from $2 billion in 2012 to $10 billion by 2016
What is the one message you want to convey?
The one message I want to convey is that Champion Active apparel line is
meant for families to use and to wear in their everyday lives. This relates back to
the overall vision of HanesBrands Inc. by incorporating a less in your face approach
to the overall brand and focuses on family ties to draw in consumers. This one
single mission will be easy to track through the media channels so that we can best
measure the aforementioned KPI’s.
Who are you communicating this to?
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The goal of this branding campaign is to market to the consumer base
HanesBrands Inc. and Champion Consumer has decided to market their product for.
The base of Champion Athletics includes 18 to 34 year olds, known as the second
wavers, and the aging baby boomer generation. The goal of this campaign will be to
reach out to families young and old to show them Champion can be worn by
anybody at anytime.
Where are proposing to communicate your message?
This branding strategy will be focused on a multi-platform campaign
approach. I plan on airing commercials on the television during primetime family
shows on the main four networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX). Radio spots will also be a
focus, but Pandora and I Heart radio will be the focus to target the younger second
wavers. We will also be focusing on the web presence, which includes, but is not
limited to, a new website, advertisements on strategic websites that families use and
social media advertisements on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The last main
area we will be focusing on is the need for viral videos. These viral videos will go on
everything from YouTube to Vine and will reach primarily the second wavers.
When are communicating?
We will launch the multi-platform marketing campaign in June 2014 and the
campaign will run for two years with refreshes of publications every six months.
This could potentially be picked up for more years if successful with continued
refreshes to the content and publications.
A rough estimate of the timeline will go as follows

June 2014
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o Launch new website brand and tagline. Following these
launches, launch social media campaign. After these are
completed, launch website, television and radio
advertisements. These are to be completed by the end of June.

December 2014
o Launch new videos and campaign materials in time for
Christmas rush

June 2015
o Launch new videos and campaigns as a refresh to the campaign

December 2015
o Launch new videos and campaign materials in time for
Christmas rush

June 2016
o Launch new videos and campaigns as a refresh to the campaign
o Make decision on whether to conduct a new campaign or
extend current campaign past 2016.

December 2016
o Launch new videos and campaign materials in time for
Christmas rush
o Either conclude campaign or make necessary changes to
revamp current campaign.
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Discuss Costs of Implementing your Ideas
When most companies implement new branding strategies, the cost is a main
concern. Whether it is due to lack of funds or spending those funds in other areas,
most companies struggle allocating the necessary funds to truly power the new
brand forward. This is not the case with Champion. In 2012, Champion made over
$2 billion in sales. While only five percent of these sales came in the way of profit,
the resulting number for their total profit is still 100 million dollars. This new
branding strategy will take nothing from the clothing apparel production budget, as
the clothing is already being made. My branding strategy does not call for any
additions to production or to the overall company, just additions to the marketing
and branding campaign for the company.
Money Spent for Branding Campaigns
(In Millions of Dollars)
Producing Videos for web and television
Creation of New Brand and Tagline
Creation of New Website
Search Engine Optimization
Social Media Advertising
Web Advertising
Radio Advertising (includes streaming audio)
TV Advertising
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
The chart above is my budget for the new campaign. This new campaign will
be running from 2014 to 2016, so these calculations are totals for both years. The
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total cost I expect to spend on this campaign is roughly $36 million, or just one third
of the profit from 2012’s profit margin. These additions to the company will not
only have the opportunity to, but I believe will, bring in billions of dollars in sales
and increased profit margins to Champion.
The return on investment will be very easy to track as most of these forms of
marketing and advertising have analytics built in to them. The videos production,
new website, and new brand and tag line are all one time costs that need to be
incurred at the start of the project. (The one exception to this statement is I have
added some more to the production budget to have a production house produce
more video if necessary.) All of these budgets also take into account a refresh of
material every six months based on the overall brand as to not get stale in the
consumers mind.
Search engine optimization, social media advertising and web advertising
will all be tied to direct analytics so that we can see the immediate results of the
campaign at any given point. Radio and television advertisements would be a little
more difficult to tell, but if you had a different web address that led to the Champion
website, you could count the amount of people who came to the website via that
link. For radio, you may say visit www.championapparel.com while on TV you may
say visit www.apparebychampion.com. Champion would purchase both of these
domains before making the advertisements and just forward them to the main
website. This is an easy way to see the amount of people who converted your
advertisement from these two sources into revenue dollars. The importance of
tying all of these advertising and marketing moves back to the original goals cannot
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be understated at this is the only way to prove the worth of this branding strategy
moving forward.
Summary or Next Steps
When writing this brand blueprint, I began the process thinking I would
model the Champion Blueprint after successful models like Nike and Under Armour.
Just one week before the deadline for this blueprint, I found the Investor Report
(which is found on the Investor page at HanesBrands Inc.). This Investor Report not
only detailed all of the financial numbers, but it also detailed the branding
strategies, past, present, and future for the company. One thing that was evident
was HanesBrands Inc. and Champion did not want to go in the same direction of
Nike and Under Armour. While I was told I was not required to follow their model, I
wanted to pursue their values and I believe came out with a very strong brand
strategy.
The brand strategy I created centered on family so that it would appeal to the
two demographics the organization wanted to hit, which are the aging boomers and
the second wavers. I believe the phrase “Champion Active apparel line is meant for
families to use and to wear in their everyday lives” will touch home with a lot of
people. This ability to take family, which is a fond idea and memory for most people
and tie it into Champion’s new vision for their active wear line is a perfect match. I
strongly believe that once this campaign gets rolling, the sales numbers will prove
my theory that all Champion really needs to be successful is a strong marketing and
branding push.
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The first step I would take if I were the Chief Branding Officer is to have these
strategies further researched with more inclusive data (which I believe is only
available to investors and the company) and fine-tune the strategy. Once the
strategy is completed, I would look to hire a production company for the videos that
we will run on the social media accounts as well as those that will air on the web
and television as advertisements. During the same time, I would be scouting out
those web designers who could create a brand new webpage. These two items are
most critical because this is the public image of the company outside of the clothing
apparel itself.
Following all of these hires, I would work with the executives in the company
as well as with the graphic designers to modify the old Champion logo to modernize
it. This will not be a popular decision with everyone, but all brands are modified
over time. Champion needs to have the physical logo changed in order to really
encapsulate the new brand vision the company wants to achieve.
In conclusion, this brand blueprint focuses on family first and clothing
second. I believe this strategy will sell many more units around the country and
around the world. Champion at one time in the not too distant past was a top dog in
the apparel industry with Nike and Starter, but has since fallen off. I believe taking
the new vision HanesBrands Inc. has provided and combining it with the branding
blueprint I have created here will lead to billions of dollars in additional sales for
Champion and a completely new vision for the still proud organization.
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Works Cited
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http://www.championusa.com/
HanesBrands Inc. (2013). Investors. Retrieved from HanesBrands Inc.:
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Nisen, M. (2013, May 9). How Nike Solved Its Sweatshop Problem . Retrieved from
Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-nike-solved-itssweatshop-problem-2013-5
Russell Athletic. (2013). Home Page. Retrieved from Russell Athletic:
http://shop.russellathletic.com/
Townsend, M. (2013, Sept. 26). Nike Profit Tops Estimates as North American Sales
Gain. Retrieved from Bloomberg News: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/201309-26/nike-profit-tops-estimates-as-north-american-sales-gain.html
Victoria's Secret. (2013). Home Page. Retrieved from Victoria's Secret: Victoria's
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