GT and Under Armour

[Techster]

What some don't understand is in some sports, most notably basketball, it's not really the brand's design or quality, but the what influence the brand can have on a kid's decision makers. As @RyanS12 alluded to, Carter probably would have played out his days at GT if those around him affiliated with UA didn't get into his ear. Some kids who grew up playing for a team outfitted by say Nike, won't look at schools that are outfitted by UA or Adidas because their AAU coaches are getting funded by Nike and hold heavy influence.

If UA and Adidas have to compete with Nike...what does that mean when we're battling with Russell? GT wears Nike everything else (shoes, equipment, etc.) but we are viewed as a Russell school. UA and Nike are quickly becoming players in influencing football recruits as well. That even smaller schools are ditching Russell to go with UA/Nike/Adidas tells you something.

At the end of the day, I believe GT still has a few years remaining on our Russell contract. When it comes time for GT to hit the market, I doubt Russell will be able to compete with this:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...rmour-wisconsin-sign-100-million-apparel-deal

I see GT getting a similar deal.

 

[kg01]

Smh. I repeat GT would not be a lower tier Nike school. GT will fall in as "Tier 1" team. Same as Ole Miss, Baylor, UNC etc.... GT will receive those same type of Mach Speed uniform the UM is wearing.



Let me answer with a question: How many qualified kids eliminated GT bc of the R?

Say what you want, even though a pipe dream, Jordan brand on our unis would elevate our brand immensely. Hell any brand at this point would increase our exposure and eyes of recruits

I think a lot of folks think, "I (as a 35+ year-old dude) don't care about some stupid brand. It's just clothes at the end of the day. These kids can't be that superficial as to make a life decision based on a stupid pair of gloves or some random sock assortment. Harrumph "

Well, the reality is, that's a larger part of these kids' "decision-making" process than many folks are willing to realize. Unfortunately our success depends on getting a good portion of these kids to sign with us. Therefore we have to play the silly brand game. All the adults know it's silly. Doesn't make us immune to having to swim in those waters.

 

[RonJohn]

Either way. I just want to go to Eastbay or any online sporting goods store and have my pick of whatever I want. Now all we have is the bookstore or ramblinwreck store and the selection is absolutely garbage.

You can get UA, Adidas, and Nike GT gear on the ramblinwreck store right now. The uniform contract has absolutely nothing to do with what brand can carry the GT logo.

The lack of GT shirts, pants, tailgating tents, coolers, etc has nothing to do with the uniform contract. It is because when Target, or Walmart, or ****'s orders the stuff and puts it on the shelf, it doesn't sale. They buy red stuff by the truckload and people grab it up. It isn't because or the uniform brand, or the store's dislike for GT. It is because the UGA fans buy up everything with their logo on it, while GT stuff does not sale. I walked in a Walmart a few weeks ago and saw a box 2014 Orange Bowl Blu-Rays. They are on discout for something like $10, but only two or three are gone from the box of about 20. So the store has had them for a year and a half and only sold a few. I know some people with GT tailgating chairs that I think they got at Target for about $3. They said that there was a pile of them in mid-Winter that the store had since August, so they put them on clearance. If that happens once or twice, the store will stop ordering GT gear and will only carry the red guys.

 

[CuseJacket]

Kids are gonna choose us based on a logo?

I doubt few if any recruits choose a school solely because of a logo. Not sure if that's where you're going with the question, but I believe some are setting up the counter-argument that way.

To suggest brand/marketing does not influence the decision though is silly. I'm not suggesting you hold that opinion based off your question.

To me the question is how much does the brand influence the decision? It would influence mine even if a school recruited me today and I had no initial favorites.

 

[Ibeeballin]

You can get UA, Adidas, and Nike GT gear on the ramblinwreck store right now. The uniform contract has absolutely nothing to do with what brand can carry the GT logo.

The lack of GT shirts, pants, tailgating tents, coolers, etc has nothing to do with the uniform contract. It is because when Target, or Walmart, or ****'s orders the stuff and puts it on the shelf, it doesn't sale.

This is not particularly true. It's not selling because it is trash quality. Went to Dicks yesterday, UGA 2016 team apparel and fan gear already. Went to GT area, the shirts looked like Pre-K art project. Also another well documented GT issue that none of products are in unison colorwise. I saw 3 shirts with 3 different shades of gold.

 

[RonJohn]

This is not particularly true. It's not selling because it is trash quality. Went to Dicks yesterday, UGA 2016 team apparel and fan gear already. Went to GT area, the shirts looked like Pre-K art project. Also another well documented GT issue that none of products are in unison colorwise. I saw 3 shirts with 3 different shades of gold.

Go to ****'s website. Duke and Colorado are listed in their "Top Schools", GT is not. Go to the "Men's Apparel" section. The brands they have are:

Antigua
Chillwear
Colosseum
Colloseum Athletics
Columbia
Concepts Sport
Section 101
Under Armour

They do not have Russell, they do not have Nike. It has nothing to do with the uniform contract.

Look at the sections of products available for GT: Men's Apparel, Women's Apparel, Kid's Apparel, Hats, Accessories, and Tailgating Gear. Look at the sections of products available for UGA: Jerseys, Men's Apparel, Women's Apparel, Kid's Apparel, Hats, Football Gear, Basketball Gear, Baseball Gear, Accessories, Tailgate & Party, Memorabilia & Collectibles, Home Decor, and Georgia Clerance.

Nike does not make any of the Tailgate & Party, Memorabilia & Collectibles, or Home Decor products. Their contract with Nike has nothing to do with the fact that ****'s offers more classes of products for UGA products than GT products. Stores carry what sells. They do not carry what does not sell. The fact that the store you went into only carried cheap GT gear most likely is because the store manager does not want to carry much inventory cost for GT products, but wants to have some on hand so they aren't accused of being biased.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I doubt few if any recruits choose a school solely because of a logo. Not sure if that's where you're going with the question, but I believe some are setting up the counter-argument that way.

To suggest brand/marketing does not influence the decision though is silly. I'm not suggesting you hold that opinion based off your question.

To me the question is how much does the brand influence the decision? It would influence mine even if a school recruited me today and I had no initial favorites.

Thanks for the heads up. All I wanted was a concise answer as to why all this branding is so important to recruiting.

Frankly, it's a very disheartening revelation for me that it holds so much importance for today's youth, especially that it can be the deciding factor in one of, if not the most important life decisions. I thought kids were better than that.

 

[Cam]

I think I'll weigh in on this. I think switching to UA or Nike is more of a show by the athletics program of a commitment to bring the best quality to its athletes. Believe it or not, but the bigger a brand is (or exclusiveness in regard to Jumpman), the higher the perceived quality. You see this in more than just athletic gear, but also technology, cars, or just about anything that involved marketing. It's not that the players are saying they won't commit to GT because they have Russell, but more of like "Why are they the only Power 5 school that hasn't switched to a top brand? Why are they using the same brand that my high school affords?" It just has the perception that the school doesn't care. Which is something I think the athletic department is trying to change, especially with things like the gold out initiative. It will only do good things for our school to land a big contract with UA or Nike.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

This has nothing to do with athletic gear, but it clearly demonstrates the problem Tech has, and has had for some time, with marketing to the fans ....
http://academicvc.com/2011/01/23/georgia-tech-branding-failure/

 

[Yomanser]

If Under Armour can make apparel and uniforms like this, then I would be very happy: https://mattkosmala.wordpress.com/portfolio/446/

 

[tech_wreck47]

If Under Armour can make apparel and uniforms like this, then I would be very happy: https://mattkosmala.wordpress.com/portfolio/446/

He's pretty good.

 

[CuseJacket]

Thanks for the heads up. All I wanted was a concise answer as to why all this branding is so important to recruiting.

Frankly, it's a very disheartening revelation for me that it holds so much importance for today's youth, especially that it can be the deciding factor in one of, if not the most important life decisions. I thought kids were better than that.

Kids choose schools because of women, under the table money, handlers, friends, conference affiliation, perceived path to the NFL, etc. I think those reasons are well known too and not any better. The thing about jersey brands is that those decisions are well within GT's control and legal.

 

[first&ten]

I've only bought 1 GT Russell Athletic item in my life and it's because the 'R' is not visible. I consider myself reasonably level-headed now and still won't get on that train.

I had "questionable" maturity at age 16-18, did alright at Tech, and turned out ok. If I were a football recruit and you asked me if uniform supplier dictated my decision, I'd say no. It's not good form. I don't care that it would have been a lie. But the 'R' absolutely would have played a factor.

Call me superficial. I'm ok with it. To me it's the same reason folks buy Cheerios, Tostitos, etc. and not the store brand with the same ingredients. Point is, marketing works at all levels. We don't recruit only worldly, sophisticated, 100% self-confident football players at age 16-18, so let's remove one hurdle that gets in the way.

Letting the 'R' influence one's decision doesn't mean they're not a good fit at GT.

I'm on board with this thinking!

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

He's pretty good.

I guess I missed that link when it was originally posted. TOO DAMN MUCH BLUE !!! And I hope to hell the team is not wearing blue jerseys for the WHITE-OUT game. How stupid would that be!!

 

[RonJohn]

I guess I missed that link when it was originally posted. TOO DAMN MUCH BLUE !!! And I hope to hell the team is not wearing blue jerseys for the WHITE-OUT game. How stupid would that be!!

Unfortunately I believe that is up to Clemson, not us. The rules are that the visiting team must wear white unless both teams agree to a different color scheme before the beginning of the season. GT could wear gold instead of blue, but in order to wear white, Clemson must agree. They have agreed to GT wearing white before, so chances are probably good.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Unfortunately I believe that is up to Clemson, not us. The rules are that the visiting team must wear white unless both teams agree to a different color scheme before the beginning of the season. GT could wear gold instead of blue, but in order to wear white, Clemson must agree. They have agreed to GT wearing white before, so chances are probably good.

Sure hope so. I would imagine Clemson would rather wear orange, unless they think by Tech wearing white, it adds to what I hope will already be an oppressive atmosphere for them.

 

[deeeznutz]

Unfortunately I believe that is up to Clemson, not us. The rules are that the visiting team must wear white unless both teams agree to a different color scheme before the beginning of the season. GT could wear gold instead of blue, but in order to wear white, Clemson must agree. They have agreed to GT wearing white before, so chances are probably good.

Didn't we end up wearing gold for a white out game recently (against Wake maybe)? I can't imagine Dabo pulling some petty crap like that against us, he's got too much respect for coach Johnson.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

Clemson would never prevent us from wearing white.

 

[CuseJacket]

Didn't we end up wearing gold for a white out game recently (against Wake maybe)? I can't imagine Dabo pulling some petty crap like that against us, he's got too much respect for coach Johnson.

NC State w/ Russell Wilson

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

NC State w/ Russell Wilson

At least we still wore the white pants. Can't see the hlemets