During a nearly four-hour Under Armour presentation to investors Thursday in New York City, seldom-discussed college basketball teams were twice featured. Photos of basketball players from Fairleigh Dickinson and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County appeared alongside those of new products and of NBA star Steph Curry, Under Armour’s crown jewel athlete.

Those images summarized the message that founder Kevin Plank has been conveying since he returned to lead Under Armour as CEO again this year: His 28-year-old company is now an underdog, in his eyes, but hopes to gun for the top.

While wearing Under Armour uniforms, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2018 and then the New Jersey team Fairleigh Dickinson Knights in 2023 each beat the top men’s college basketball team in the country during the NCAA Tournament. The two teams are the only No. 16 seeds to ever win a game in March Madness. (Coincidentally, the top dogs they beat, Virginia and Purdue, both wore Nike uniforms in those games.)

Eric Liedtke, executive vice president of brand strategy, likened Under Armour to an undrafted free agent in the NFL or any other overlooked competitor, noting that Plank himself was a non-scholarship football player at Maryland.

”Our brand is that walk-on athlete,” Liedtke said.

Liedtke, a longtime Adidas executive hired by the Baltimore-based Under Armour in August, was one of several new hires who spoke — alongside Plank and other tenured brass — during Thursday’s presentation.

In it, Plank and others reintroduced the $5 billion brand to investors by outlining a grand vision of what they see as their comeback strategy, complete with a video of the brand’s new Baltimore Peninsula headquarters and an 18-month road map for success. It was the company’s first investor meeting of this scale since 2018.

Under Armour, officials detailed, is seeking to draw from its origins as a “high-performance” sportswear brand, but at the same time, seems to want to do it all. It aspires to blend that history of functionality with aesthetics.

Once considered a potential rival to Nike, Under Armour has seen its stock price drop over the past decade and, amid executive turnover in recent years, its revenue stall. Thursday’s presentation described Under Armour as one of four “podium brands” alongside Nike, Adidas and Puma — while also pitching a playbook of newness and adaptation.

Plank highlighted the company’s roots in innovation, which he called “our Trojan horse,” by revealing, in his fist, a foldable ball cap that he said consumers would pay a premium price for ($45) and would be imitated by competitors. Officials also spoke, though, of a needed change in approach.

Men over 34 make up most of Under Armour’s clientele, but the company says it is seeking to attract younger consumers, particularly those competing in team sports. The brand also is perceived as “high-performing” and “aggressive,” company officials said, which can be unapproachable.

Under Armour has a 4% market share in the Americas, officials said, but aim to grow through a series of calculated strategy changes. Part of that will come through messaging. The company has a $500 million global marketing budget, Plank said, and aims to “be more thoughtful and prudent with that half a billion dollars” as it seeks to reenergize its brand.

After founding the company in 1996 and stepping down as CEO in 2019, Plank returned as CEO this spring.

Baltimore was a focus of the presentation, as several area high schools were depicted. During one portion, a video featured WNBA star Kelsey Plum working out at Digital Harbor High School in Riverside. She synthesized Under Armour’s pitch.

“We’re underdogs,” Plum said of Under Armour, “and we’re coming back.”