Brand Report - Draft

Brand Report Draft:

Executive summary - 

The purpose of this report is to evaluate consumer needs and market research on the current sportswear brand Umbro. Both primary and secondary research was carried out and it is apparent from this that Umbro is rapidly decreasing in sales. Due to looking at each of these factors a series of recommendations will be suggested which will explore more of their marketing techniques, brand values and appearance. Other performance and fashion competitors have been considered in order to understand how successful their marketing skills are, this was an important strategy to conclude why Umbro are so unsuccessful compared to similar brands. 

Conducting all this research, recommendations have been made to help improve the brand strategies of Umbro, this has been suggested by current consumers and hopefully future consumers, this evidence has been taken from Primary Research surveys and asking the general public on opinions. 

Word count - 144

Introduction - 

Humphreys Brothers LTD founded in 1924 by brothers Harold and Wallace Humphreys, starting off as a small sportswear company, which then developed into Umbro. They are one of the earliest suppliers to professional football teams and are currently only supplying to 15% of the Premier League. 

Through this report, it will become clear where Umbro sit amongst its competitors, this will show an insight of the brands marketing strategies and what current consumers think of the brand. This report will uncover what marketing strategies Umbro are making and how (un)successful this is compared to competitors like Nike and Adidas. It will highlight the current issues with the brand and this is where recommendations will be made.

A dated brand like Umbro has had issues with defining the identity of who they are, throughout doing primary research it has been named an “outdated brand” which was expected where as Nike was labelled the opposite. From research their biggest issue is their identity and what route they want to take whether this be football focused or that vintage streetwear. Advertising and their social media seems to be a recurring issue for Umbro where they are just not focused on this. They don’t seem to try and reach their consumers by showing themselves on social media, but this has been shown to be the main platform of trying to connect with them. Secondary research has shown that Umbro has definitely faced some global issues but nothing they can’t overcome with change.

Words count - 217

Macro Economic Analysis 

Political/Legal - 

As Umbro is well known in over 90 countries, all of these have different laws, and therefore all operate differently. This causes Umbro to work in different ways depending on the country, this can affect the success of them due to the location. Countries like China and North Korea have very political systems where they don’t allow western products into the country. This being said Umbro will either have to adapt their products or get rid of these. Umbro’s global rank of 358,379, compared to Nikes 458, this shows that even though Umbro is known globally its still not successful. 

Economical - 

During Nikes ownership, Umbro’s revenues went from £210 million in 2006 to £170 in 2011, these are currently lower than ever but within the next year they were due to rise from £145 to £167 million. This shows that Umbro has been unable to recover itself since Nike.

Social - 

Globally there can be issues with what is classed as a desirable product, this is due to Religion, economic issues, geographic which influence the need of a product. In Middle Eastern contras its not socially acceptable for women to participate in sports actives so therefore it’s sensible not to sell their products here. 

Technological - 

Umbro has the least amount of followers on all social media platforms compared to its competitors, they only have 317k followers on Instagram compared to Nike having 83.8 million, and Adidas having 23.1 million. Umbro also receives the least amount of likes or activity with getting an average of 2379 compared to Nike’s 952k, this suggests that Nike has a better global popularity. 

Environmental - 

Umbro’s contractor protects both human health and the environments by meeting requirements including water discharge, solid/hazardous waste and air emissions. They adopt reasonable measures to lower negative impacts on the environment and always continue to improve environmental performance.

Word Count - 312

Brand Market Position 

Strengths - 

They are very well known in around 90 countries, also having a lasting presence in hometown Manchester with launch of kits for them, once having a strong management as it was encouraged by Nike. Umbro have a strong brand equity and finical position.

Weaknesses - 

Umbro is not very well active on social media, they have limited social media posts and don’t try to attract consumers with their advertising. They have also decreased in popularity where competitors seem to be rising above them. 

Opportunities -

They have lots of opportunities to re-establish their brand by attracting a younger audience and becoming more relevant on social media. They also could open up to a more streetwear culture by focusing on their vintage fashion items. 

Threats - 

Umbro’s biggest threats are their current competitors like Nike and Adidas, especially Nike being the parent group to Umbro they could potentially run them out.

Word Count -  155

Competitors  

Currently Umbro sits with current competitors such as: Nike, Adidas, North Face, Calvin Klein, Gymshark, Under Amour, New Balance, Fila, Converse and Sketchers. Both of these brand positioning maps showcase  Umbro and where it currently is positioned, the current position of Umbro is a cheaper brand than Nike and more of a performance brand. Conducting a primary survey this is where consumers have placed Umbro but then in the suggestions recommended that it be made in to more of a fashion brand. All of these competing brands both have a performance and fashion line within each brand and have a balance between them both which is something that Umbro is not as keen on having. From conducting a survey, the results were clear that the brands that focused on fashion lines and social media marketing were more successful, these are brands like Nike and Adidas, this is something that be successful for Umbro if they focused on these to attract a wider range of consumers. “Be more like Nike” is a comment that was made in the survey and this shows that Umbro are declining as it’s being wished that they were more like one of its competitors. 

Word Count - 198 

Consumer Demographic  

The current consumer for the brand Umbro is of an older generation, typical England fan has been described as a “beer-swigging, pie-munching, balding and a bit of a foul mouth”, this is description of a typical Umbro consumer. This is something that Umbro do not want as their consumer demographic, competitors consumers are young, in fashion, this is something that Umbro need to aim to attract. As Umbro focus mainly on their football kits, the consumers are mostly footballers, coaches etc. this is something Umbro need to expand on as this is such a limited amount of people. Football teams which are sponsored by Umbro, their fans tends to be the consumers that buy Umbro clothing, but they aren’t doing this because its tailor-made by Umbro they’re doing it in support of their team. They do currently have a fashion line which is only advertised when they collaborate, such as ASOS x Umbro or Missguided x Umbro, this was bought by many different consumers, including both genders and all ages. This is something that Umbro need to prioritise on, as having such a limited target audience is decreasing their sales even more, and eventually they will taken over by other competitors and not have teams wearing Umbro anymore, so having a fashion line is something that if this scenario was to happen they would fall back on to their fashion line. 

Word Count - 231