"For high school kids Under Armour is the badgeofauthenticity that says I really am an athlete, " says Matthew Powell, analyst at the research firm SportsOnesource.
This is superior to the old self-report system associated with badges because now a potential employer can verify the authenticityofbadge information through a third party system rather than just by trusting the applicant.
It was a badgeof honor sometimes, and sometimes a mark ofauthenticity, regardless of whether or not the person it identified matched their advertised persona.