From Under Armour’s football strategy to Chili’s unexpected merchandise success, the evidence reveals something every small business owner should know about spending advertising dollars.
Every year, businesses spend billions of dollars trying to get noticed. Google Ads, Facebook campaigns, billboards, influencer partnerships, sponsorships, promotional merchandise, and the endless pursuit of social media followers.
But here’s a question worth investigating.
What if the biggest marketing mistake isn’t how much you’re spending, but where you’re spending it?
At Klixo, we approach marketing like detectives. We follow the money, examine the evidence, study the competition, and investigate what actually influences customers to make decisions.
Two recent stories from Marketing Brew caught our attention. One examined how Under Armour is reconnecting with football to strengthen its brand. The other explored how companies like Chili’s and Fishwife are turning creative merchandise into customer loyalty and organic attention.
At first glance, the stories appear unrelated.
One involves multimillion-dollar sports marketing. The other involves tote bags, cowboy boots, and restaurant-themed clothing.
But look closer.
Both reveal an important truth about advertising: The businesses getting attention aren’t necessarily the ones spending the most. They’re the ones spending where their customers already care.
Let’s open the case.
Exhibit A: Under Armour Returns to the Scene of Its Original Success
In October 2026, Marketing Brew examined Under Armour’s renewed focus on American football.
The company, which built much of its early identity around football performance, has been putting the sport back at the center of its brand storytelling.
Under Armour returned as an official NFL footwear and glove partner, expanded its roster of football athletes, and introduced campaigns connecting its football heritage to a younger generation.
But the most interesting part of the strategy isn’t simply the NFL sponsorship.
It’s the expansion into flag football, women’s participation, youth sports, and regional football communities. Under Armour is looking beyond existing customers toward the people who may become its next generation of customers.
Now consider what this means for a small business.
Imagine a Dallas HVAC company with a $3,000 monthly advertising budget.
It could spend every dollar competing for increasingly expensive search terms against national companies.
Or it could investigate where local homeowners already spend their time.
Neighborhood youth sports. Community newsletters. School events. Local homeowner groups.
A carefully selected youth football sponsorship, combined with targeted neighborhood advertising and a strong Google Business Profile, might create repeated exposure among potential customers.
That doesn’t mean every sponsorship will work. The audience must overlap with the company’s service area, and results still need to be measured.
The lesson from Under Armour is not that every company should sponsor sports.
It’s that your advertising budget should follow your customers’ interests, habits, and communities, rather than simply following whatever marketing platform is popular.
Exhibit B: Chili’s Proves Advertising Doesn’t Have to Look Like Advertising
Our second investigation takes us somewhere unexpected.
A restaurant merchandise store.
According to Marketing Brew’s October 5, 2026 reporting, Chili’s Grill & Bar collaborated with cowboy boot company Tecovas to create boots using leather associated with Chili’s restaurant seating.
The unusual product reportedly sold out within five minutes and generated considerable social media engagement.
Chili’s also collaborated with golf apparel company Rhoback on clothing inspired by customers who visit the restaurant after playing golf.
Meanwhile, tinned-fish company Fishwife partnered with Whole Foods on a limited-edition tote bag that sold out in a week.
Why would restaurant customers want cowboy boots? Why would shoppers purchase a grocery-inspired tote?
Because the merchandise wasn’t simply advertising.
It connected with something customers already enjoyed, identified with, or wanted to share.
A traditional promotional shirt asks customers to promote your company.
A genuinely desirable product gives people a reason to talk about your company voluntarily.
That is a major distinction.
Let’s bring this investigation closer to home.
Suppose you own a neighborhood coffee shop in Brooklyn.
You could spend $2,000 printing 500 shirts with your company’s logo across the chest.
Or you could partner with a local artist to create a limited-edition coffee mug featuring a recognizable Brooklyn streetscape.
The mug might become something customers photograph, collect, gift, or display.
Which option creates more lasting brand value?
The answer depends on execution, but the second creates an opportunity for something traditional advertising often struggles to achieve.
Customers choosing to carry your brand into their everyday lives.
The detective’s conclusion: Stop asking what you can put your logo on. Start asking what people would actually want to own.
Exhibit C: Your Advertising Budget Has Five Possible Destinations
The investigation now turns to the question every business owner wants answered.
Where should the money go?
There’s no universal allocation that works for every business. A new dental practice, established law firm, neighborhood restaurant, and online clothing retailer have very different customer journeys.
However, most small businesses can evaluate their budgets across five major categories.
An illustrative $5,000 monthly advertising budget
Starting allocation for an established local service business with a functioning website and sales process, not an industry benchmark.
- Search and local visibility: 40% · $2,000
- Social media and retargeting: 20% · $1,000
- Community partnerships: 15% · $750
- Creative content and brand assets: 15% · $750
- Testing and measurement: 10% · $500
Here’s what investigators should look for in each category.
1. Search and local visibility: Capture customers already looking for you.
When someone searches "emergency plumber near me" or "best family dentist in Manhattan," they’re signaling a potential need.
Investing in Google Search, Google Maps visibility, and relevant website content helps businesses appear at the moment customers are actively looking for solutions.
But simply appearing isn’t enough. Investigate which searches produce qualified inquiries and actual revenue.
2. Social media: Build recognition before customers need you.
Not every customer is ready to purchase today.
A homeowner may watch several roof-repair videos months before hiring a contractor. A future restaurant customer may discover a neighborhood establishment through Instagram long before making a reservation.
Social media provides opportunities to establish familiarity, demonstrate expertise, and remain visible.
The mistake is assuming likes and followers automatically equal future customers.
3. Community partnerships: Borrow trust, not just attention.
Under Armour understands the connection between football and its audience.
Small businesses can apply the same principle locally.
A pediatric dental practice could support a community family event. A personal trainer could partner with a neighborhood running club. A landscaping company could sponsor a local home-and-garden gathering.
The objective is not simply logo placement.
It’s meaningful exposure to a relevant audience through an organization or activity they already trust.
4. Creative content and merchandise: Give people something worth remembering.
The Chili’s and Fishwife examples demonstrate how merchandise can serve as a form of marketing.
But merchandise doesn’t have to mean T-shirts and tote bags.
A business could invest in educational videos, useful guides, distinctive packaging, memorable customer experiences, or locally inspired promotional items.
The best creative investment gives customers a reason to remember the brand and, ideally, share it.
5. Testing and measurement: Follow the money.
Every promising advertising idea remains a hypothesis until evidence supports it.
Use tracking, customer surveys, promotional codes, lead-source records, and sales data to determine which campaigns produce results.
For activities where direct attribution is difficult, such as community sponsorships or merchandise, establish measurable goals before spending.
A campaign that generates attention but no identifiable business benefit shouldn’t automatically receive more funding.
Exhibit D: The $5,000 Billboard Versus the $500 Community Partnership
Consider a hypothetical neighborhood auto repair business evaluating two marketing opportunities.
The first is a billboard campaign costing $5,000.
Thousands of drivers may see the advertisement. But how many need auto repairs? How many live within the service area? How many will remember the business when their vehicle breaks down?
The second is a $500 sponsorship of a neighborhood car enthusiast event.
The business could meet potential customers, demonstrate expertise, offer vehicle maintenance consultations, and distribute useful branded items.
The event will likely reach fewer people than the billboard.
But some of those people may be considerably more relevant.
This doesn’t prove that community sponsorships outperform billboards. A well-placed billboard can be valuable, particularly for established businesses seeking broad geographic visibility.
The investigation is about efficiency.
A thousand relevant impressions can be more valuable than a hundred thousand irrelevant ones.
The correct metric isn’t always how many people see an advertisement.
It’s how many of the right people remember it, respond to it, and eventually become profitable customers.
The Plot Twist: Sometimes Your Best Advertising Investment Isn’t Advertising
Here’s where the investigation gets interesting.
Imagine a restaurant spending $4,000 monthly to acquire new customers.
Its advertising performs well. People see the promotions, visit the website, and make reservations.
But customer reviews repeatedly complain about slow service and inconsistent food quality.
Would increasing the advertising budget solve the problem?
Probably not.
The restaurant could potentially get a better return by improving its operations and customer experience before investing in additional customer acquisition.
The same principle applies to an HVAC company that doesn’t answer incoming calls, a dental office with a confusing booking system, or a retail store with unreliable order fulfillment.
Advertising creates expectations.
The customer experience determines whether those expectations are met.
And customers who have positive experiences can become one of a company’s most valuable sources of referrals and repeat business.
Before spending another dollar on advertising, investigate whether your business is ready to convert the attention it’s already receiving.
The Klixo Detective’s Five Questions Before Approving Any Advertising Expense
Every proposed campaign should face a basic investigation.
- Who exactly are we trying to reach, and why would they care?
- What evidence suggests this channel reaches our intended customers?
- What specific outcome are we buying: awareness, qualified leads, sales, or repeat business?
- How will we measure whether the investment worked?
- What would make us stop, change, or increase spending?
If a marketing vendor cannot help answer these questions, that should raise concerns.
Marketing isn’t supposed to be an expensive exercise in hope.
It should be an investment made with a clear objective, a reasonable hypothesis, and a plan for evaluating results.
Case Closed: The Best Place to Advertise Is Where Attention Meets Relevance
Under Armour’s football strategy and the merchandise campaigns from Chili’s and Fishwife offer two very different approaches to the same challenge.
Under Armour is strengthening its connection to a community that already identifies with the brand’s heritage, while also reaching emerging audiences.
Chili’s and Fishwife are creating products and experiences that give consumers something worth sharing.
Neither strategy is about advertising everywhere.
Both demonstrate the power of understanding what customers care about and building marketing around that connection.
For a small business, the lesson is especially important.
You don’t have an unlimited advertising budget. You can’t afford to chase every trend, sponsor every event, advertise on every platform, or distribute promotional merchandise that nobody wants.
You have to make choices.
And those choices should begin with research.
Investigate your market. Study your customers. Understand your competitors. Examine your conversion data. Test different approaches.
Then spend with intention.
Because the biggest marketing mystery isn’t where your advertising dollars went.
It’s why you spent them there in the first place.
Klixo: We Investigate Before You Advertise
At Klixo, we approach marketing differently.
Before recommending campaigns, we investigate the market itself. We examine competitor visibility, customer search behavior, market opportunities, and the factors that may be preventing businesses from turning attention into revenue.
Our philosophy is simple: AI Maps the Market. Humans Move It.
You don’t need to advertise everywhere.
You need to understand where your next customer is most likely to come from.
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