Helen Reid
PARIS (Reuters) – German sportswear brand Puma is using this year’s Olympics and partnership with sprint champions Jamaica to focus on speed, taking on Adidas (OTC:) and Nike (NYSE:) to position itself in the increasingly competitive running and lifestyle market.
Puma CEO Arne Freundt is seeking to boost sales of “performance” products such as trainers and football boots and is updating Puma’s “Forever Faster” slogan in his first advertising campaign in a decade in Paris, where this year’s Games are taking place.
As Puma tries to attract more casual and serious runners, sponsorships of the Jamaican Olympic team and some of the world’s top sprinters such as Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Hera help associate the brand with speed, says Jeff Lowry, an analyst at Redburn in London. .
“You’re never going to sell a lot of running spikes, but in terms of truly iconic teams that validate you as a performance brand and connect you with some of the biggest athletes, Puma has a very strong relationship with them,” Lowry said. .
Freundt visited Jamaica in late March, competing for the first time in the country’s top school athletics competition, to unveil the Jamaican Olympic uniform in an event considered a proving ground for young athletic talent.
“We have to be clear that Puma is about speed,” Freundt, who has been in the top job for just over a year, told Reuters in an interview before the campaign launch. “This is something we need to further reinforce in the consumer mindset.”
Like other sportswear retailers who sponsor Olympians and pour marketing dollars into the Games, the bet is that athletes breaking records in Puma gear will push viewers toward its full range of products, creating a potential “halo effect” for everything. from marathon shoes to everyday sneakers. .
Brands such as Puma, Adidas and Nike will also be allowed to celebrate their Olympic athletes’ medals on social media for the first time during the Games, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) plans to ease rules governing online marketing in a “pilot mode”. project” with the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry.
“Thanks to the new IOC rules, we will be able to better use this moment and congratulate them. [athletes] also through social media, I think it’s a win-win for both the Olympics and us,” Freundt said.