Chris Glodé has more than a decade of experience in mobile product and marketing, which he brings to his role as vice president of digital and team lead of Under Armour Record, the retailer’s mobile app. In addition to Record, Under Armour over the years purchased three other fitness community apps, including MapMyFitness Inc., where Glodé previously worked. Between the four apps, Under Armour is garnering more than 130,000 app downloads each day. In 2015, consumers with these apps logged nearly 8 billion foods they had eaten and 2 billion activities.

The editors of Mobile Strategies 360 picked Glodé’s brain on his company’s mobile achievements, the mobile initiatives he is currently working on and the mobile trends on his radar. We also asked for tips on how to get the biggest return on mobile investments.

 

Q: What are you working on right now with mobile?

A: Our entire digital strategy at Under Armour is around Connected Fitness, and the entire experience is mobile. We’re creating the most advanced ecosystem to help make all athletes better—building the connected athlete around a mobile experience called UA Record. We just launched our HealthBox products, headphones and our new connected footwear, plus additional third-party sensors, all using the mobile device as the hub for bringing the data together and providing deep utility for athletes.

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Q: What is one mobile achievement you’ve made in the past year at your company?

A: Under Armour brought together the top health and fitness apps when we acquired MyFitnessPal (2015), Endomondo (2015), and MapMyFitness (2013). We’ve assembled the sharpest young mobile talent, all working together now with a common mission. The combined knowledge and experience of our team in mobile is second to none–our app community just crossed 160 million users globally. We still feel like we are just getting started.

 

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Q: What is the one piece of advice you would offer to another mobile executive looking for help growing his mobile strategy and ROI?

A: If you build it, they will not come. You better have a real, longitudinal strategy on how users are going to discover and repeatedly engage with your mobile product. Consider whether delivering your experience as a software development kit to put into partner apps might be more effective than launching your own app. Assume that a lot of what you do won’t work and be prepared to adjust quickly. Test everything. Have multiple barrels that you can fire in succession. You are not going to win the app store lottery, you’re going to have to do this the hard way. Don’t assume that your brand is going to do the work for you. Be prepared to put on your sandwich board and start slangin’ installs. Get your whole company on board.

 

Read the rest of our interview with Glodé, and interviews with six other Mobile Strategies 360 Mobile Champions by downloading the complimentary executive report.

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