Never leave your customer puzzled. Years ago, during a meeting at an advertising agency with our IHG client, one of the agencies openly acknowledged that their commercials for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express were causing confusion. The advertised benefits for both brands came across as almost identical. When asked how they planned to fix this, the agency’s response was, “More money behind the advertising.” Naturally. Let’s spend additional budget to air already confusing ads so the brand can create even more confusion. Deliberately fostering confusion among customers is a serious form of mis-marketing. Do not assume that recognizing this obvious point is simply common sense. When it comes to brands, common sense is far rarer than you might expect. This appears to be a significant problem for athletic performance-wear brand Under Armour. This article is part of Branding Strategy Insider’s FREE newsletter. Join the world’s smartest marketers and subscribe here for actionable insights delivered straight to your inbox.
On May 12, 2026, Under Armour announced results that were far from inspiring. Analysts noted that while there were some gains from the brand’s turnaround program, there also seemed to be deeper, unresolved issues undermining those efforts. The brand’s future prospects looked rather bleak. Even the return of Under Armour founder Kevin Plank as CEO failed to highlight or reinforce the more positive elements of the brand’s revitalization. By May 14, after two days of reflection, investors concluded, as The Wall Street Journal reported, that “… the company’s turnaround efforts showed little sign of paying off.” “’North America revenue…