By Mark Baber
May 30 – With Adidas an official sponsor of the World Cup and Nike topping the viral charts with its video marketing campaign, Puma have taken a different track to global domination – their World Cup marketing will get underway AFTER the tournament is over, and just prior to the start of the school year.
Puma is planning its biggest ever ad campaign in August and September, focused on its new ‘Forever Faster’ branding, which will heavily feature Arsenal football club. This is in strong contrast to Nike whose advertising videos feature Ronaldo, Neymar, Iniesta, Ibramovic and others. Whilst Nike’s ‘Winner Stays’ video is current top of the Unrly media’s viral video charts with over 1 million shares and 75 million views, Puma are keeping their powder dry.
Chief Executive Officer Bjorn Gulden explained the rationale behind Puma’s strategy to Bloomberg saying: “The World Cup is a very, very crowded environment media-wise, from credit card companies to car companies to God knows what. The car companies and credit-card companies have deeper pockets than we have. You die quickly.”
Puma, of course, will not be totally invisible during the World Cup. It sponsored players, include Mario Balotelli, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Aguero, Marco Reus and Santi Cazorla and they will be wearing Puma’s new ‘Tricks’ boots.
For Puma and their new management team the stakes are high. The company suffered a fall in Group sales of 8.7% in Euros in the 2013 financial year to approximately €3 billion – a fall blamed on disadvantageous currency movements and the difficult financial situation in Europe. Whilst Belle International, the largest retailer of sporting goods in China, has this week warned of a weak Chinese market, Puma’s strategy has been formulated to build on its strength in Mexico, India and Russia.
The world’s three largest sports apparel brands have adopted radically different marketing strategies around Brazil 2014. Who will end up claiming victory in the commercial competition will closely studied by sponsorship and marketing consultants – and may prove to be an interesting counter-point to the strategic and physical battles on the field of play.
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