Puma Brand Analysis

Brand Communication Analysis

Trent Kahute Communicat ion Planning : ID520B : Fall 2006 Instructor: Peter Laundy IIT Institute o Design

Contents

Brand Brand origins..... origins................. ........................ ......................... ......................... ........................ ........................ ................ .... Brand meaning as it has changed over the years............. Current brand dierentiation................................................... Current brand portolio... portolio............... ........................ ........................ ........................ ....................... ...........

3 5 7 9

Brand identity Brand names..... names................. ........................ ........................ ........................ ........................ ........................ .................. ...... 12 Brand name visual treatment.. treatment.............. ........................ ........................ ........................ .............. 12 Brand communicati communications ons identity elements.... elements................ ...................... .......... 15 Brand communications Communication assets................................................................ 17 Key brand communication decisions.......................... decisions.................................... .......... 20 Detailed analysis o a communicati communication.......... on...................... ........................ ............ 22

Brand Origins A Family Business  The roots o the Puma brand stretch back to the mid 1920’s when Adi and Rudolph Dassler spent years working together building lightweight athletic shoes registered under their amily shoe enterprise Gebrüder Dassler, in Herzogenaurach Germany. Beginning with the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Adi’s Adi’s uniquely designed shoes began to gain a worldwide reputation. Jesse Owens was wearing a pair o Dassler’s track shoes when he won gold or the USA at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Feuding Brothers Ater World War II, during which Rudi Dassler had spent time in a POW camp, the Dassler brothers began a legendary eud, causing Rudolph to leave the company and ound a rival company across town. Originally thinking o calling his brand RUDA, Rudi Dassler named his company Puma Aktiengesellscat Rudol Sport (Puma) while brother Adi incorporated incorporated as Adidas. This amily rit would lead to cutthroat business euds and sporting triumphs orging two mighty sporting brands recognized all over the world.

By 1925 the Dasslers were making leather shoes with nailed studs and  track shoes with hand-orged spikes.

Adi Dassler Founder o ADIDAS

Rudol Dassler Founder o PUMA

Brand Origins

 The leaping puma also symbolizes combination o speed, power, and elegance oten exhibited by proessional athletes.

 The Puma logo is a symbol o the erce rivalry between the two brothers. No longer working with his partner and brother, the brand would come to symbolize the solitary and secretive nature o Rudol’s new venture as it moved orward.

Brand meaning as it has changed through the years

Era 1 1948 - 1960

Era 2 1960- 1970

The best in ootball 

Going or the gold 

Reason or being

Outtting the worlds best soccer players

Equipping the worlds best athletes

Value Proposition

Best in class perormance

Enhances your perormance in style

Diferentiation

Innovative eatures eatures (rst removable stud)

Celebrity athlete endorsements Clandestine advertising

Persona

Elite, exclusive, personal, masculine

Exuberant, elitist, colorul, energetic

Associations

German proessional soccer team

Charismatic champions (Pele & Joe Namath) Gold medal athletes (Jim Hines)

Range o authority

Soccer boots

Soccer boots, track shoes, ootball shoes

Audience

Proessional soccer players, experts, trainers, coaches

World class athletes

Relationship

New player in the eld

 Trusted partner

Era 3 1970 - 1986

Era 4 1986 - 1997

Era 5 1997 - Present

Beyond the playing feld 

Trying to keep pace

Hip, cool, and leading the way 

 Targeting the sports liestyle

Business survival

Mixing the infuences o spor ts, liestyle, liestyle, and ashion

Play in style and comort

High perormance with personalized t

Fits your active liestyle

Comort & style Consistent brand message

Innovative ootwear systems (closure & cushioning)

Distinctive styles, branded experiences (concept stores & events) Co-developed celebrity lines, co branding, partnerships with amous designers

Casual, laidback, cool, minimal,

Hi tech, advanced, not relevant Classic, cheap, low quality, dated

Elegant, colorul, resh, spontaneous, individual, urban, metropolitan, international, edgy

Soccer players at all levels Champion athletes (Martina Navratilova)

Proessional soccer, tennis, track athletes Diego Maradona, Boris Becker Discount bins

Multiple sports liestyle segments (yoga, tennis, gol, racing, music, soccer, baseball, running) CEO Jochen Zeitz implements 5 part strategy

Clothing, street ootwear

Running shoes, kids shoes, apparel, Cross trainers, gear

Perormance / Casual ootwear, apparel, gear, accessories

People who play sports People around sports

Young athletes, soccer athletes, track  athletes,

Anyone who leads an active liestyle (businessmen, active travelers, or marathon runners)

Familiar riend

A old riend you lost touch with

Hip riend who shows you a good time

Current Brand Dierentiation PUMA In recent years, the Puma brand has become synonymous with ashion, style, and sport. Through resh design, co-branding co-branding and partnerships with celebrities and amous designers, Puma has elevated their brand image so that it now competes with ashion brands as well as their traditional rivals in the sporting ootwear industry. The Puma brand communication strategy is fexible across multiple categorie s, yet communica tes innovation or an “active “active lie style” style”.. Pum a communicates with each category in a unique manner, but the tone is unmistakingly tied back to the overall brand through the overarching brand personality and identity. To extend their brand Puma has created concept retail stores that enable people to experience the brand in engaging and compelling ways. Puma also engages customers through their Mongolian barbeque concept that enables customers to design and build their own ootwear rom scratch. Further dierentiating the brand rom traditional rivals, Puma requently hosts promotional events that are based around “active liestyle” themes based on dining, entertainment, ashion, and music.

Reason or Being

Mixing the infuences o sports, liestyle, and ashion

Value Proposition

Fits your active liestyle

Reasons to Believe

- Distinctive trend setting styles - Branded retail experiences (concept stores) - Co-developed celebrity lines (Turlington / Nuala) - Co branding partnerships (Ferrari, - Partnerships with amous designers (Starck, Wanders) - Mass customization (mongolian bbq) - Promotional events (beats & treats)

Persona

Elegant, colorul, resh, spontaneous, individual, metropolitan, international

Associations

Fashion brands (Gucci, Armani, Dolce Gabbana) Fringe / extreme sports Music artists & movie stars

Range o  Authority

Perormance & casual ootwear Apparel & accessories

Audience

Anyone who leads an active liestyle

Relationship

Hip riend who shows you a good time

ADIDAS Adidas’s mission is to improve every athlete’s perormance through innovation.  The overall Adidas brand communicates the company’s goal o using sport perorma nce and style competing very closely with Nike’s value proposition. To compete with the value propositions o their traditional competitors, Adidas has ocused their brand commu nications in three di erent areas: “sport “sport peror mance”, “sport heritag e” and “sport style”. B rand communica tions are tailored to the speci c market segments within each unit. Leveraging its cutting edge edge innovations in ootwear,, Adidas spends the majority o its eort communicating to the sport ootwear perorma nce segment. In response to the “sports liesty le” trend being led by Puma, Adidas Adidas has recently co developed product lines with amous designers and has ocused on the timeless and classic nature o their brand.

NIKE Nike has developed a brand that has global reach striving to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. Over the years Nike has partnered with the world’s greatest athletes to build their brand recognition and reach, masterully demonstrating the power o image marketing. Nike communicates to a wide variety o sporting and liestyle segments while retaining its ocus on high perormance athletes. Like Puma, Nike has extended their brand through concept concept retail stores, event sponsorships, online customization services, and co branding with design savvy companies. The Nike brand dierentiates itsel rom Puma by ocusing on “perormance dr iven style”, style”, whereas Puma communicate s “liest yle driven style”. style”. The Nik e brand goes head to head with the Adidas brand on the “sports perormance” ront, ercely competing to improve perormance through technologicalinnovation.

Current Brand Dierentiation

Improving every athlete’s perormance through innovation

 To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world

Perorm at the highest level

Just do it

- Footwear technology innovations - Automatic customization (Adidas 1) - Co developed celebrity lines (Stella McCartney) - Classic styles, tradition and heritage - Mass Customization (Adicolor)

- Footwear technology platorms (shox, air, airmax, zoom air) - Cutting edge perormance / liestyle apparel - Mass customization (NIKE ID) - Full line o perormance / liestyle accessories - Digital / Physical Expereriences (Co branding with IPOD) - Social re sponsibility (Livestrong, United United Nations programs) - Branded retail experiences (Niketown) - Event sponsorships (marathons, olympics)

Clear, orderly, practical, hi tech, classic, sophisticated, sincere

Athletic, infuential, outgoing, resh, aggressive, hi tech, uturistic, retro cool

Elite Soccer players, soccer teams, NBA stars Hip hop artists (Run DMC) Mainstream sports

Athletes at the top o their respective sport (Micheal Jordan, Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong) Unair labor practices

High perormance ootwear Perormance & casual apparel

Footwear, apparel, equipment in multiple categories

Anyone who plays sports

All athletes - anyone with a body

Respected coach

Fellow athlete

Brand Portolio Overview

Masterbrand - Sport Liestyle • Classic • Liestyle

Puma is doing exceedingly well in the world o sport liestyle where it is widely considered a leading brand that enjoys a comortable old-school legitim acy. Within irony-ric h, tech savvy urban hipster circles, Puma is as much a ashion statement as it is an athletic brand.

Masterbrand - Sport • Football* • Running* • Cricket* • Baseball* • Motorsports • Women (BMX) • Gol 

 The primary ocus within the sport category is on ootball where Puma has leveraged its heritage in providing perormance ootwear or world class soccer athletes. Puma also claims a “liestyle” niche and has branched o  into ringe sports such as motorsports and BMX racing. B ut it is in the nonconormist environmentt o extreme sports that Puma environmen has more street credibility than many o its competitors such as heavy-hitting brands like Nike, Reebok and Sketchers.

Sub-Brands • Womens Active • Urban Travel • Premium Luxury • Retro - Nostalgia

 Through resh design, co-branding and partnerships with celebrities and amous designers, Puma has elevated their brand image so that it now competes with ashion brands (Gucci, Dolce & Gabanna, DKNY, Prada) as well as their traditional rivals in the sporting ootwear industry. Puma has also attracted new customers, through their designer sub brands which provide oerings outside the scope o the core Puma brand.

Co-Brands • Urban Modern • Urban Street • Contemporary Fashion

Partnering with amous international ashion designers, architects, and artists has catalyzed Puma’s Puma’s recent rise within the liestyle ashion industry. Pum a has leveraged the “brand name” o the designer to help to build an identity around the oering.

Brand Portolio

Masterbrand - Sport Liestyle

Masterbrand - Sport

“Classic”

Football

Suede, Roma, Brasil

Perormance,Distinctive,Heritage Perormance,Distinctiv e,Heritage

 The “classic”category exploits the sporting heritage appeal o the Puma brand by oering products that combine timeless classics with the latest style.  The “liestyle”brand category is made up o a wide variety o ootwear, apparel, and accessories that are trend setting, urban, and ultra hip.

“Liestyle” Speed Cat & Numostro

 The Puma sport brand category targets both mainstream sports (ootball gol, and baseball) as well as extreme sports (BMX, Motorsports). Puma is currently currently using dierent brand identities to dierentiate their oerings and the messaging rom that o the core brand.

 To build associations with other design savvy brands, Puma has partnered with Ferrari, F1 Racing, and Cooper Mini to co-brand new and existing products.

Gol 

“Liesty le” - Co Branding +

Running

Casual,Fresh,Whimsical

Ferrari

Motorsports

 Technical,Mechanical,Perormance ,Mechanical,Perormance

+

Cooper Mini Motion

Women / BMX

Feminine,strength,dynamic

Brand Portolio Sub-Brands

Brand Expansion / Adding New Dimensions

Nuala is the product o an organic partnership refecting Christy Turlington’s passion or the ancient discipline o Yoga. The sub brand represents PUMA’s commitment to create a superior mix o sport and liestyle products. It is an elegant yet concise ashion collection to complement a woman’s busy work,travel and exercise schedule.

 The Mongolian Shoe BBQ,is a natural evolution o the customization trend. It extends the brand by giving people the opportunity to build their own shoes and ultimately have more control over the nished product by being truly involved in the creative process.

The Puma store shows the brand and what Puma’s all about. Located in prime locations in metropolitan areas,the concept store is a communication and marketing tool,as well as a sales tool. Distinctive architectural design leverages a striking uses o puma’s amiliar  jumping cat logo.

Fashion designer Neil Barrett has created a a collection with global jetsetter in mind.  The collection conveys a modular concept approach that accomodates the on-the-go liestyle o today’s style conscious adventurers.

+ Platinum is a luxury shoe line that ocuses on cratsmenship and pulls infuences rom Pumas’s sport heritage,and recently has drawn inspiration rom the prestige o timeless sports like polo,yachting, and auto racing.

 The Rudol Dassler Collection recalls the innocence and timelessness o sport through its clean,simple,and provocative styling. The collection is rooted in the heritage o soccer, tennis,running, and boxing shoes o the late 1940’s and 1950’s.

Puma extends their brand by partnering with Biomega to design a bike that addresses the needs o the urban commuter. The Puma Biomega Street Bike is the Scandinavian take on US-style bad boy culture.

Co-Brands

 The Mihara Yasuhiro limited edition collection consists o apparel,shoes,and accessories or both men and women that break through the boundaries that have been set up through the course o ashion history. He designs with the intent o changing our perception and stereotype. Not interested in churning out mass produced high street numbers.

 The Starck shoe collection is not based on design,not on showing o,not on more and more and more eatures,but on showing less and less and less. It means more technology, more intelligence,but less styling.This is the secret o the Starck Puma Line.

Brand Names

Brand Names

PUMA

nuala

96 HOURS

 The Puma brand name stands or distinctiveness, individualism, spontaneity, internationalism, and sporting heritage. “Distinctiveness” and “individuality” allude to the brand ocus on cutting edge design and ashion trends while retaining a non conormist attitude. “Spontaneity” caters to the brand ocus on the active liestyle. Internationalism speaks to global reach and appeal o  the Puma brand. It stands or “sporting heritage” because Puma still sells a variety o classic styles that have been around or over 25 years.

 The name nuala is an acronym representing: Natural - Universal - Altruistic - Limitless Authentic. The name is dened as “meditation in motion” and it stands or intuition, intelligence, and individuality. “Intuition” speaks to trusting your own instincts and your ability to connect with your inner sel. “Intelligence” speaks to providing smart ootwear and apparel solutions that combine style with perormance. “Individuality” addresses the idea that liestyle products should t and adapt to the demanding needs o  each woman.

Innovative, urban and versatile, 96 Hours accomodates the on-the-go liestyle o today’s style conscious travelers. “Innovative” speaks to the concept o providing a small selection o pieces that provide everything an intrepid adventurer/ traveller would need to keep togged up or our days. “Urban” addresses addresses the casual modern style that ts into your daily routine whether its work or pleasure. “Versatile” speaks to the “on-the-go liestyle” o today’s style conscious types who embark on impossibly glamorous blurs o airport lounges and boutique hotel lobbies, meetings and cocktail bars, gyms and gallery openings.

 The brand name alludes to the attributes o the puma animal: the combination o speed, power, power, elegance , attributes oten associated with athletes. The name is also short, easy to pronounce, and memorable.

Overall, the name misses the mark because there is a disconnect on the number o hours a quick  trip might take or the average active traveler. Instead o 96 hours, they should have tried 24, 36, or 48 hours to really help people easily connect to the core o the concept.

Visual Treatmen Treatmentt

 The Puma symbol is one the ew logos that can be used with or without an accompanying name.  The logo has been used or over thirty years and has now has gained global recognition. The iconic leaping cat tells us that the brand is active, aggressive, and orward looking. The leaping monotone cat is also a highly identiable trademark o old-school seniority. The organic and curvacous styling o the leaping cat suggest the visual styles that Puma ootwear delivers.  The all capital sans seri ont helps the company create a commanding presence that sets an aggressive tone. The logo is visually appealing in black-and-white as they are in color.

 The elegant geometric simplicity o the nuala symbol clearly reerences the principles and ideals o yoga and holistic living. The lower case lettering indicates the human and organic nature o the brand and the rounded sans seri  ont reeren ces the “circle “circle o lie”. lie”. Un like other designer collections, the nuala mark does not reerence Puma nor the creator and sponsor, model Christy Turlington.  The addition o Turlington’s name may help build brand awareness because the brand is trying to dierentiate itsel rom Puma and other competition like Stella McCartney ’s Adidas Line and Nike.

 The 96 hours graphic symbol is clear, straightorward and blunt. The “military” “military” type ont suggest the urgency and pace at which this brand is meant to be experienced. The ont suggests a brand that is rugged, tough, and prepares you or your mission: adventorous travel at all cost.

Master Brand Communica Communication tion Identity Elements Type Face and Text Placement Clean & Modern Typography Puma consistently uses Helvetica ont throughout their brand communication material. From websites to ads and and packaging, Helvetica ont is used in both upper cases and lower cases.  The chosen typography works well or Puma’s brand image because it a timeless ont that connects the classic heritage style and with trendy ashion orward styles. There is also a minimal use o text in print material, websites and advertisements, letting the products “speak” or themselves.

Color

Layout

Rened Color Palette Puma’s primary color palette o black, red, white, and grey is consistently used across their brand communication to uniy the dierent master brand categories, sub brands, and co brands.  Their signature color is a saturated red which is bold, distinctive, and easy to recognize. In addition clean, white backgrounds are consistently used across master brand websites. Their spartan approach to color is especially helpul to consumers because Puma’s products (ootwear, apparel, accessories) are oered in a vast array o colors and styles in which the overall brand identity could get easily lost.

Adhering to the grid Arranging layouts on a grid gives Puma’s communications a clean, simple, and modern look and eel. Logo’s Logo’s,, symbols, and text adhere to the grid to reinorce the modern design nature o the brand. Puma uses the grid layout to organize the minimal copy in a clear and orderly manner shiting the ocus to the dierent product oerings.  The use o their primary color palette can be ound in all o  Puma’s communication imagery supporting the integrate nature o the brand. Pictures and visual zones oten have crisp corners that reinorce the look and eel o Puma’s products through their modernity and timelessness.

Master Brand Communica Communication tion Identity Elements Logo Identity & Placement Master Logo Puma uses their master logo across all brands and across all categories as a central uniying mark. The logo has been traditionally utilized as a ootwear tag and as apparel and accessory marks.

Product Tags

Ambient Street Advertising

Retail Signage

“Leaping Cat” Logo  The “leaping cap” has recently been used as a stand alone logo because the Puma logo has gained enough recognition over the years and it’s now instantly associated with the Puma brand. As Puma moves orward, they continue to use the leaping cat logo on an increasing number o their brand touch points ranging rom ootwear to in store environments

Footwear & Apparel

Street Grati

Event Signage

Typography Logo  The Puma type based logo is primarily utilized in the master brand “sport liestyle” category.  This logo is associated with the ollowing two aspects o the Puma brand: retro classics and ashionable apparel.

Apparel & Accessories

“Super Cat” Logo  The “Super Cat” logo was rst designed in the early 1970’s as an evolution o the leaping puma that historically donned the sides o  Puma’s ootwear. ootwear. Since then, the mark has served as an instantly recognizable trademark  symbol or the Puma brand. As the portolio has expanded beyond ootwear, Puma has ound ways to introduce the super cat log into accessories and apparel.

Footwear & Accessories

Master Brand Communica Communication tion Identity Elements Imagery Master Brand - Sport Liestyle Puma’s master brand website and advertising campaign employ a variety o techniques to communicate the Puma’s brand integration o sport, liestyle, and ashion. The imagery alludes to “active liestyles”that are associated more with ashion (social events, shopping) than spor t. Imagery ranges rom up close product shots, to ashion models wearing the product, to both abstract and photo imagery o activities that young hip people participate in. The imagery is clearly designed to appeal to active urban emales as the target demographic.

Master Brand - Sport In the sport master brand categories, Puma consistently uses photo imagery to communicate the brand message. Advertisements and web sites typically portray an athlete dynamically participating in a sporting activity wearing the Puma products. The product itsel becomes the backdrop to the dynamic gesture o the athlete. Interestingly enough, the athlete is typically portrayed as participating in the activity alone, not in a group or team. Unlike their competitors, Puma had ew athlete endorsements, making the brand accessible to almost anyone involved with that particular sport.

Sub Brand & Co Brand Communication Communi cation Identity Elements Sub Brands Nuala Nuala is represented by a warm and sophisticated color palette. The brand utilizes sans seri ont in lower cases adding a eeling an organic, approachable and riendly eel. Photo imagery depicts both the collection designer (Turlington) in up close shots and active women participating in activities like yoga and dance. O verall, the Nuala Nuala brand communications convey an intelligent approach to addressing the needs o a womens active liestyle.

Co-Brands 96 Hours 96 Hours is represented by a muted, cool color palette and the bold text usage is minimal to non existent. With this sub brand, Puma takes a traditional approach to communicating their brand message by using photo imagery that captures models using and displaying the product line. Although the images are taken in urban settings such as airports and oce buildings, the brand purpose seems to unclear and inconsistent.

Puma - Mihara Puma - Mihara is represented by a saturated and bold color palette. The use o typography is nonexistent, orcing the products to speak or themselves. Imagery in advertisements and websites portray exercising cyber punks, trailer trash partiers , and bowling steet zombies. Communications eectively the underground street culture origin o the Mihara brand.

Puma - Starck  Starck utilizes the Puma’s master brand color palette with the addition o a saturated yellow as his signature color. Relying on the ability o the products to communicate the brand message, the use o typography is nonexistent. In atypical ashion, Starck has restrained rom showing his ace in this brands communications. Instead, he opted or a clean, minimal aesthetic that ocuses on a single primal character and his relation to the ootwear. The result is whimsical, un, and approachable.

Communication Communi cation Assets Asse ts

Puma Stores - Providing Rich Customer Interactions Interactions

Cultural Connection and personal express expression ion value

Frequent product launches & a cornucopia o styles

Puma’s retail experience is replacing the brand message as their primary promotional delivery vehicle. Retail continues to grow in importance as a showcase or the brand and as a way o getting more innovative products to the consumer. In 2006, Puma opened 20 new “Concept” stores and countless more PUMA stores and outlets. The concept stores serve as the epicenter o the Puma brand, providing consumers with a more holistic experience by enabling interaction with their customers on dierent levels, displaying the depth o the brand while creating even more opportunity or discovery. In addition, Concept Stores host the Mongolian BBQ, where consumers can design their own personalized shoes. In 2006, Puma retail has been used to introduce exclusive product launches, as well as other unique brand driven consumer events.

Dedicated to using the most advanced technology in creating products that realizes the u llest potential o its user, PUMA has remained in a pinnacle position in the world o sports. However, in recent years, Puma has bravely ventured into the realm o ashion and has proved equally successul, garnering great ollowing by the young and trendy. Combining athletic sensibilities with ashion chic, PUMA has remained in the oreront o style with its classic styles unleashing unlimited potential. From the style capital o  Paris to the streets o Tokyo, PUMA is present everywhere - a must have item or the ashionable crowds. Puma’s diverse diverse oering o  products ultimately allow their customers to express their individuality through trend setting style and ashionable utility.

New product launches, seasonal styling changes, customer ocused events, and new retail store openings help keep the Puma brand resh in the minds o consumers. Interestingly enough , Puma communicates the cutting edge o ashion and active liestyle trends through resh ootwear and apparel designs that combine material, colors, and styles into products that resonate with customers.

Communication Communi cation Assets Asse ts

Leading Sports Liestyle Creates Dierentiation

Sub Brands Serving Premium Niches

Wearing the Brand - Inherent Brand Visibility

Puma, which has managed to dierentiate itsel rom more powerul rivals like Nike and Adidas, has emerged as a hugely infuential brand, transorming rom an alternative brand to a global icon with broader desirability. The brand’s message was rened, its voice claried and in the process, Puma has created a new market segment: sport liestyle. Now that competitors are playing in the sport liestyle segment, Puma now strives to be the most “desirable” “desirable” sport liestyle company in the world. Puma’s marketing strategy seeks to establish the brand as an icon that extends its lead in the sport liestyle market. The key to achieving this position is to maintain a culturally relevant message that connects with consumers despite a cluttered media environment.

All o Puma’s sub-brands (Nuala, 96 hours, Platinum, Rudol Dassler Collection) exist to serve dierent premium niche market segments.  This strategy enables the Puma master brand to ocus on the core segments o sport and sport liestyle without dilluting the brand message to its core audience.

 The name PUMA has been synonymous with the athletic spirit and sport liestyle, playing a pivotal role in the illustrious history o  sports. For many years, the brand became inextricably linked with some o the world’s top perorming athletes, and in some o their most glorious moments. Currently, the Puma brand is oten associated with people who are ashionable, trendy and lead an active liestyle. To build brand awareness and recognition, Puma has and continues to prominently display their logos on almost all o  their ootwear, apparel, and accessories. With such a recognizable brand as Puma, they spend little time on generating awareness, but instead spend a considerable amount o time maintaining visibility and awareness.

Communication Communi cation Assets Asse ts

Creating the buzz with key infuencers

Deep pockets or communications

Marketing Context

Puma ocuses on mak ing sure “key infuencers” are wearing the brand, primarily through having what they call “brand zinger” events or their target audiences audiences throughout the year. Events include underground parties, dj and dance competitions, and gatherings o  dierent “anti “anti establishment” segments. By respecting the culture and voice o these groups, Puma lets the participants personiy the essence o the Puma brand, thus bringing ree word o mouth advertising and building elusive “street c red”.

Puma products generate signicant margins. the company is rapidly growing and they are constantly testing new ways to communicate their brand. They are a company that leverages an image marketing strategy that requires heavy investments in all aspects o brand communications ranging rom new concept stores to print and media advertisements.

Puma’s marketing eorts clearly all in Kotler’s inormation economy category , but they still market themselves in a ew ways that ts the “industrial economy” paradigm. paradigm. Puma is clearly ocused on customer acquisition than on customer retention. It relies on its heritage in sport categories, but the sport liestyle category seeks to broaden the size o the market to anyone who leads an “active liestyle”. While Puma ollows the inormation economy paradigm o building its brand through company behavior, it also builds its brand through heavy advertising. This strategy makes sense because it needs to reach consumers who oten respond to visual media and Puma is particularly adept at creating distinctive and memorable advertising.

Organizational Assets One o Puma’s greatest strengths is its CEO Jochen Zeitz who has devised and implemented a ve stage strategy that ocuses on innovation and design. Part o this strategy includes leveraging existing communication assets but also aggressively developing new ones. He has single handedly changed the company and supercharged the brand by helping to attract and retain top creative talent and allowing them to radically experiment with the brand and its communication assets.

Key Brand Communication Decisions

Puma Concept Retail Stores PUMA has taken the sport-ashion concept a step urther by creating a branded store environment that showcases its cutting edge designs and collaborative projects. The design intent o the PUMA concept a place where the PUMA energy is evident, promotes promotes city style, and encourages casual shopping. Puma has developed a strong design image through its stores in America and Europe and although there is a strong uniying style, each store has its own characteristics characteristics dened by local culture culture and site constraints. constraints. PUMA Concept Stores utilize the jumping cat branding as its ocal point or design direction and each o the xtures in the store is inspired by sport and it is designed to be a place where all o PUMA’s PUMA’s sport-ashion brands can intersect and interact in a unique way. Feature Featuress that are oten integrated into the retail environment design include signature internally illuminated ‘niche walls’, walls’, olding ceiling and wall panels, internally illuminated cantilevered shelving, display boxes and the large eature eature arch at the entry to the store. In addition, the concept stores oten host signature events such as Mongolian shoe bbq’ bbq’s, s, ashion shows, and dj hosted dance parties.

Key Brand Communication Decisions

Puma Fashion Shows As Puma ventures into the ashion world with their “sport “sport liestyle” master brand, ashionable ashionable sub brands, and designer collections they are beginning to reach new audiences through dierent communication communication channels. Puma now hosts seasonal ashion shows at sleek acilities at ashion hot spots around the world. Shows are typically media rich events that combine live dj’s, visual multimedia, and models wearing the latest and hippest products rom Puma.  The vibrance, energy energy and perpetual motion o the event mirror the PUMA brand aesthetic, and attracts “sport “sport liestyle” lies tyle” consumers rom across the globe. Th ese events attract a multitude o retail purchasers allowing Puma to expand into new market outlets. These types o events help Puma dierentiate themselves even urther rom their traditional competitors: Adidas and Nike.

Detailed Analysis o a Communication “New Stu” advertising campaign

“New Stu” TV Advertisements - Winter 2005/06

 The communications I chose to analyze are the “New Stu” ads on TV and in print eaturing animals interacting with Puma products in adoring and distinctive ways.

Targeting a youthul audience PUMA decided to communicate their brand image through a product-ocus product-ocused ed campaign that conveys cutting edge style to a 16-34 year old audience.

Style ocused messages Puma introduced the award winning “New Stu” campaign as a way to showcase their design leadership. New stu print executions highlighted the reshest new Puma styles and the commitment that Puma has to providing customers with innovative sport liestyle products.

Attracting new customers A core objective o the campaign was to increase sales, increase the mainstream audience’s knowledge o Puma ranges and project the brand’s core values as being dierent. New products needed to be showcased to the mainstream audience in a creative and unique way that was “unexpected, “unexpected, unique and dierent ” . To communicate this concept, animated animals such as monkeys, bats, bees, mice, and sh are depicted as playully interacting with Puma products in an engaging and resh manner.

Usage o mixed media Puma rst introduced this campaign in 15 second television advertisements.  The campaign was visually resh and clean with crisp photography that drew attention to the products. The print advertising that ollowed refects the ocused simplicity and whimsical nature o the TV spots.

Building momentum rom the holiday season  TV spots were run in November and they drew inspiration rom Aesop’s ables by depicting two typical adversaries giting each other Puma presents. Based upon the success o the TV ads, print ads were run into the ollowing two seasons highlighting new Puma products. products. Elements o the ad migrated into surrounding media environments, engaging advertising savvy young adults who might be suspicious o broadcast advertising.

“Presentation” communication mode  These advertisements obviously all into the Presentatio Presentation n mode and structured around the products themselves (eatures and attributes).

Ad Agency: Zenith Optimedia International/GBH

“New Stu” Print Advertisements - Spring & Summer 2006

Trent Kahute Communicat ion Planning : ID520B : Fall 2006 Instructor: Peter Laundy IIT Institute o Design