Persona Creation by Group work
Written by Lilah Halbkat, Xiaolu Lin, Yue Chen, Xinyue Liu
Primaloft is a global fiber company with a US base in Latham, NY. The company originally created a water resistant, synthetic alternative to goose down for the U.S. Army. The company focuses now on creating comfortable performance fabric, yarn, and insulation for outdoor clothing and camping gear. A few of Primaloft’s main partners include apparel companies such as Patagonia, The North Face, and Under Armour. This article will be discussing customer profiles within Primaloft and Under Armour.
Under Armour is a large athletic apparel company founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank. The company produces gear engineered to keep athletes cool, dry and light. Under Armour’s mission is to make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation. Under Armour uses Primaloft fabrics to create insulated jackets, boots, and ski/outdoors pants. The company targets professional athletes and sports fans, as detailed in the consumer profiles below.
Primaloft Global Marketing Manager: Jonathan
Jonathan works as a Global Marketing Manager for Primaloft. He studied Business Administration at one of the top business schools in the area, Fordham University. He chose to work at Primaloft because he loves to travel, and he thought that a global company would give him this opportunity. Jonathan is in his late thirties and currently lives in Latham, NY with his wife Jessa and his German Shepherd Zeus. This position was a huge salary boost from his last position as an entry level Marketing Manager at Hanes, Inc. He purchased an Audi Sedan upon his Primaloft job offer. His favorite activities include exercising, traveling, and hosting dinner parties at his home. He takes pride in his appearance and frequently wears Polo shirts, button downs, and slacks. Industry partnerships are very important to him, so he looks to partner with companies who have a great brand presence. He enjoys working with large outdoor companies like Under Armour because he believes the reputation of Primaloft will grow greatly with strong digital co-marketing. He uses LinkedIn and Twitter for news and posting about work updates. He also less frequently uses Instagram and Facebook to share photos and keep up with personal updates. (Lilah Halbkat)
Under Armour Product Manager: Stan
Stan is Under Armour’s product manager. He is 37 years old. He received his bachelor’s degree in management at Duke University. After graduation, he worked at Vans as an Assistant Product Developer for one year. Then he chose to go the University of Virginia for further study. Fortunately, he met his wife there and got married after graduation. At that time, Under Armour was a relatively young and competitive brand in the athletic marketing. Stan started as an Assistant Buyer and worked his way up to his current position.
In his daily life, he likes to use Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin keep up with current news. His activities include running with his wife every morning and watching football with friends every Saturday night. Although he is a very precise and taciturn man when it comes to work, he often is very humorous in his personal life. (Xiaolu Lin)
Under Armour Consumer Profile: Allen
Allen is 55 years old. He owns a textile company but now allows his son to run his company. After retiring from the company, he spends most of his time hunting with friends. So he may like the hunting jackets and pants from UA. PrimaLoft® insulation material is lightweight, water-resistant, breathable and can be compressed without losing warmth. So that is the best choice for him. In his daily life, he likes to use Faceboo to share pictures with his friends. He enjoys his life after retiring.
(Xinyue Liu)
Under Armour Consumer Profile: Alice
Alice is a 21- year-old graduate student of NC state university. At the same time, she is a member of a ski club. Her family supports her hobby and gives her the best ski equipment. The snowpants made by Under Armour work well as part of her skiing ensemble. Alice likes these ski pants because she likes the highly innovative technology. The pants include a soft, thermo-conductive inner coating to absorb & retain body heat called ColdGear®. It also uses insulation by PrimaLoft® which is lightweight, water-resistant, breathable and can be compressed without losing warmth. In her spare time, she often searches the websites and social media for sports brands that offer ski clothes. (Yue Chen)
Company to Consumer Interaction
Under Armour’s consumers are looking for high quality innovative performance apparel, so Product Buyers like Stan make sure the most innovative fabrics and technologies are used in their products. Jonathan and other marketing directors that represent B2B companies like Primaloft aim to prove that their technology is the best of its kind, and the most appealing for Under Armour’s end consumers.
As Primaloft specializes in synthetic insulation, the brand markets their product as the best approach for outdoor and sporting apparel for cold weather applications. These products add value to Under Armour’s cold weather boots, jackets, pants, and gloves. It is Stan’s job to make sure consumers will recognize this added value. He works with the Under Armour marketing team to strategically produce products that will help build lasting relationship with consumers like Alice and Allen. Under Armour tracks their product satisfaction index, conducts online surveys to get consumer feedback, and invites loyal customers each season to participate in focus groups.
Both Primaloft and Under Armour create brand engagement with consumers like Alice and Allen by having a strong online presence. Primaloft has an outdoorsman blog as well as technology overviews and a “gear finder”. They have a digital media presence that spans over Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that they use to connect with the end consumers of their partners. Under Armour has an extensive website and four elaborate fitness apps such as UA Record, Endomondo, Myfitnesspal, and Mapmyfitness. These apps make it easy for Under Armour consumers to stay fit by mapping their workouts, controlling their diet, following a digital personal trainer, and tracking their fitness journey. The more engaged these consumers are with the brand, the greater the brand equity and the product returns.
