Our intense shoot with Under Armour's Kevin Plank | In Depth crew podcast

0:01This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18+. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast instead of doom scrolling? Smart move. Another smart move?

0:34Getting help from one of State Farm's 19 ,000 local agents when you choose to bundle home and auto. Bundling. Just another way to save with the personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. So we spent the day in Baltimore with Under Armour founder Kevin Plank for DP Seth, EP Brad, I am Graham. We are back. I would like to say starting out. I had kind of a personal affinity for this one because I have been after Plank for more than probably a dozen years trying to profile him for an episode of the show.

1:20I even flew to Baltimore years ago to meet with his people trying to make this happen. And one thing or another always got in the way. And then I run into him on a few occasions at Roger Goodell's party Super Bowl week and was just kind of pushing him a little bit. And finally, he gave me his correct email address. I realized I'd been emailing the wrong one for many years. And I think he's changed it a number of times. And long story short, that led to a fun day this summer with a hell of an entrepreneur. It was cool to meet the guy. I don't know about you guys. Our ages are a little bit different, but close enough.

2:15But I think it was probably high school for me, maybe early high school, where Under Armour was the thing. and like Under Armour like you knew exactly I want everybody wanted Under Armour and it was it was the cold weather gear that like any athlete had and it was I wanted Under Armour I wanted Under Armour and so it was cool to like meet that guy the guy who literally started it from his grandma's basement and to see what he's built was really cool it was weird to see the white like like the original white long sleeve Under Armour because I remember having that when I played football in high school whenever I played football in high school.

2:53I remember a coach making fun of me because I was wearing that under my pads and decked out in Under Armour stuff. And he was like, Donnie, you don't even play. I'm just on the sideline, decked out in Under Armour. I look good. When did you play football? Junior high and high school. Okay. I still remember I switched schools in sixth grade. We were required to do two sports per year. So I was considering doing tackle football, and tackle football was one of the things you could do. Why are you calling it tackle football? Well, because in sixth grade, it's like there's flag football and tackle football.

3:31And so I remember in PE, that was one of the things you could try out. And they did these drills where, I don't know what they're called, but it's one person going after the other person head on with a group of guys standing around you in a circle. It's a little quadrual. What? Yeah, that. and I just remember this kid that I was doing it with who was pretty scrawny

3:56like just destroyed me yeah I mean like I didn't know somebody could run through somebody that especially somebody that looked like that and I remember going home that day being like this never again so so wearing your Under Armour dude Maybe here. There you go. I played football freshman year. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Yeah, definitely none of that I was good on the freshman team But as soon as it was like JV varsity I didn't hit puberty till I was like 20 years old So I was not it's interesting looking at Kevin He played football as well doing a lot of the things that he was the the wedge buster which means he was doing probably a lot of the Crazy that you just referred to where you're just running at guys trying to blow people up.

4:40Yeah looking at him It's like, I don't see, I mean, you look back at his highlights, okay, like, he looks like a player. It's tough to see that now, so far removed, but he made a name for himself in Maryland. Yeah, and somebody who has always had that entrepreneurial desire. He was, what, had a flower business in college, and one thing just kind of led to the next. Obviously, you were talking about Under Armour in high school, and that was, I mean, the company and the brand exploded. was killing it forever, has had some more challenging times of late. He was out as CEO, now back as CEO. And it was really interesting kind of talking to him about that because, let's face it, like no company only ascends forever.

5:33There are ebbs and flows and that's just part of the deal but then you're with him and touring this campus and it is like nothing short of mind-blowing yeah that campus was crazy it was also the most like well organized not by us tour of anything we've ever done we're like he would lead us somewhere and then the person responsible for that department was waiting for us lead us to the next room that department head is waiting for us like just throughout the entire campus it was like perfectly organized. It was so organic it helped the clip come together because we didn't have to figure out weird, how do we get to talking to this person?

6:13Well, no, Kevin just takes us to that person, introduces it and then we're moving again. It was so organic. The edit was just like, usually everything was like, we don't typically order things or edit things in order of how they happened and this one we absolutely did. Everything was just... I give Matt and Jen on Kevin's team a ton of credit for that. They, I know, busted their ass to pull this all together for us. And rarely does it work out as well as it did here. And that's because of their efforts. I don't know about you guys, but I think the coolest part for me of that tour was walking into, was it the Innovation Lab?

6:58I forget what they call it. Yeah. Yeah, that was nuts. With the dummy that sweats. Oh, is that too? Yeah, both of those things were like, what the heck is going on here? It's crazy that that exists. Because it had different parts. Because we were talking to the one lady, Candice, and I can't remember how many different zones that dummy had just like in its foot alone. But it could tell you like all these different data points of like, it felt like why would you need to know all of that? But I guess you do. When you're competing with Nike and Adidas and all the big boys, I guess you look for any possible advantage.

7:39It seems to be like their niche, right? It's like the real nuance of design versus just like it looking cool. It's like 100 % performance is everything they think about. Yeah, I don't know about you guys, but we've featured a number of business titans now. And, you know, they're all smart, but I wouldn't, I would argue that it's less like intellect that stands out when you're with these people and just more this kind of unrelenting work ethic and just being on all the time and having this drive. What do you guys think? No, you're right. There's been multiple guests we've had where I'm like, you have more money than you'll ever need, and you're still so focused on every little tiny detail of things.

8:27I am not built like that. Yeah, it's impressive. Yeah, I think, in part, I think that plays into, he wants to be so involved because he has that drive, and you can disagree if you want, but I think, in part, that's probably played into why he's gotten criticized over the years is because he's so involved and people have disagreed with how involved he should be and with some of the decisions he's made. And we got into that a lot in the interview. Well, it's interesting. I mean, you can, there's a direct line from, there's a commonality between that and these other founders that we've profiled. Formula One's Bernie Ecclestone, micromanagers.

9:09Starbucks Howard Schultz, micromanagers. Starwood's Barry Sternluck, micromanage on and on and on and you can certainly make the argument that's to their detriment but you can also make just as strong of an argument that if they did not have that quality these companies would have never turned into uh what they are so it is kind of an interesting a character trait among these folks yeah and it's like where you can't you can never it the company's their baby like they built it so it's like when they want to get back involved again it's like how do you how do you fault the guy for wanting to try to fix the company or change the company or improve in general the company he created before we go anything else we gotta talk about the pogo stick oh do we I think so when was the last time because I I don't think I followed up after you did the activity when was the last time have you ever been on a pogo stick before when I was a kid yeah I was impressed I didn't I thought you would get maybe two.

10:13And I could have gone for a lot longer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you fall on purpose? Did I fall? Well, I'm sorry. Not fall. That was what I was afraid of. That was a concrete floor. Yeah. And between you and Kevin, I mean, you guys aren't young, young men that it was gonna speak for yourself. Well, you are an entire year older than I am. That it was gonna, it could have, which would have been great for the episode. Bad for future episodes. Bad for future, but really, it would have really tied, like, the end of the episode together. Because all it takes, you bounce the wrong way and you trip falling backwards.

10:47Yeah, I was less concerned about hurting myself there. The one that I was concerned about hurting myself was if I got on the unicycle with Steve Young. I tried momentarily to get up on that and I'm like, oh, no, I'm literally going to crack my skull open. I was more worried for Kevin than I was for you. More just because... That would be bad. He's got some years on you, so it was like just trying to, and he's the guest, you're you, and so you always got to turn up. He takes care of himself, though, which is funny because he did do like a full workout right before the interview, and he just was sweating.

11:23No, he was. Oh, the other piece we left out, I felt so bad. You know, I, it's like a point of pride for me now. I haven't wore makeup in like two seasons, I think. Yeah. but they hired a makeup person for the shoot and you were kind of annoyed that I didn't wear it because he was going to be... Well, if the guest is wearing makeup and you're not it makes it really obvious that you're not wearing makeup. And then he gets there and the makeup person that they hire he doesn't end up using eyes that are so... Easiest work day ever for this makeup artist who I'm sure was sweet as can be. Could somebody have used a little bit of makeup more than that for the...

12:02Oh, because he just came from a workout. So he was just flush and red and shiny. And he's like, I don't need it. And I was like, s***. And then the nice suites that they had provided to do it. You're getting blasted by sun. It could cool down enough. That was a sick, I got to stay in that suite the night before. And that shower was, I was talking about it earlier. I think I took like an hour long shower. The part I guess we've left out is his efforts to revitalize Baltimore and kind of the downtown area he's there's a specific part of Port Covington that's a cobblestone where we were he's made a hell of an investment and you You know, it seems like oftentimes when there are rich folks giving back, somebody somewhere figures out a reason to criticize that person for their efforts.

13:07But it is clear from talking to him, he just has a passion for doing good where he's from, wants to do right by his community. I mean, the UA house is a good example of that. Nothing wrong with making a profit along the way, too. But give him a lot of credit for putting his money where his mouth is. And cool dude. Yeah, he was cool. Agreed. For EP Brad and DP Seth, I am Graham Weevil. Uncovered windows can make your home feel up to 20 degrees hotter. Stay cool and save up to 50 % off custom window treatments during the 4th of July mega sale at Blinds.com. From outdoor shades to room darkening blinds, finding the perfect fit is easy.

13:55Get free samples, expert design help, and professional measure and install services. Or DIY with confidence and support every step of the way. Shop up to 50 % off site-wide, plus huge savings on doorbusters, right now during the 4th of July mega sale at blinds.com. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. so I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills but it turns out that's very illegal so there goes my big idea for the commercial give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch up front payment of$45 for 3 months $90 for 6 months or$180 for 12 month plan required$15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms see you next time