Following are excerpts from the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with Under Armour Founder & CEO Kevin Plank today along with links to the interview on CNBC.com: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000247829 and http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000248037. All references must be sourced to CNBC.
PLANK ON NOT JUST A ONE AND DONE DEAL
We want to make sure that our message is there. That this isn’t just a one and done and I think there’s some speculation about how we are going to react to it. So I want people to be clear that we will stand up and we will come back. And there is nothing more American than that story of yeah you may have pushed us a little bit but wait till you see us in 2018 in South Korea.
PLANK ON NEW SUIT
I think when the U.S. speedskating team came out, didn’t have the results that they wanted. I think the decision came down to what could it be? Frankly, by the time you’re in the middle of competition like that, there’s only so many variables that you even have the ability to change. And so, whether it’s a mental pop or anything else, let’s put them in a new suit and try it. So they went from a brand new suit that we put all the innovation and technology in the world, to a suit that we had a lot of our technology and innovation in prior. But they were both Under Armour suits so we had no opinion as to which suit that the athletes wanted to compete in.
PLANK ON NOT HAVING A PLAN C
We knew really well mathematically that we had empirical evidence that we felt the suit was strong and our opinion came, look our job is to outfit you, put you in the best advantage way we can, and with the best products in the world and let athletes go perform. And when that doesn’t happen, we usually have alternatives. So in this one we had a Plan A and a Plan B, and lessons learned from this. I wish we had a Plan C as well because there was still things that we didn’t think it would get to sort of this level, this crescendo it seems to have come to.
PLANK ON DOUBLING DOWN
We doubled down literally our deal because what I didn’t want it to come down to was a negotiation. So we said our current deal, we’re going to put so much money that this is going to be a no brainer for you. And the reason for that, again this wasn’t a PR play as much as a cultural play of the way that we approach it from a company. Which I think is a very American philosophy of when you challenge us, we’re not going to run away. You know, the colors don’t run. And so we’re going to stand here. We’re going to come back and we’re going to come back stronger.
PLANK ON PUTTING A NEW PLAN IN PLACE
We’re going to put a new plan in place and we’re going to come back in 4 years and in 8 years and America will hopefully be on the podium where it rightfully belongs.
Direct link: https://prnewschannel.com/2014/02/21/cnbc-excerpts-under-armour-founder-ceo-kevin-plank-sits-down-with-cnbcs-scott-wapner-today/SOURCE: CNBC
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