The Challenge
Over the past 18 months PUMA has been on a mission to define their DNA and get back to the heart of the brand, which has always championed individual athletes, not just for their individual athletic brilliance, but their brilliant personalities, people who had the courage to be themselves. Think Tommie Smith, Diego Maradona and Usain Bolt. The wild ones. The square pegs in the round holes. The people who play their own game. For decades sports has told people that winning was all that mattered and you needed to suffer to achieve your goals. Joy never came into it. Puma’s new brand strategy is built on the idea that greatness is in your nature and Puma exists to help people unleash it so that they can feel the highs of sport. In our first brand campaign under the ‘Go Wild’ banner, We communicate the highs of Running, specifically ‘the runner’s high’; the sense of elation that Runners feel when their bodies start releasing those happy chemicals. Whether you’re an occasional park runner or an elite athlete, everyone can identify with the rush that running can deliver. And Puma, with its energy returning trainer technology can help you reach that high. While other brands focus on winning or empowerment, Puma focuses on the joy that Running brings, inspiring runners all over the world to pull on their trainers (hopefully Puma ones!) and chase that high.
The Solution
Puma is a legacy brand in running, losing market share in a category dominated by heavy hitters (Nike and Adidas) and under threat from newer, more specialised competitors (Hoka and On). We needed to create a campaign that could drive performance credibility with runners with a distinctively Puma point of view. Instead of focusing on winning (Nike) we dramatised the human truth that runners don’t just run for times, they run because it feels amazing. This ‘runner's high’ was brought to life by Afroman’s iconic ‘I got high’, with a twist that showed runners putting the rest of their lives on hold to feel the high of running. Supported by a 40% YOY increase in media spend, making it Puma’s largest brand campaign ever, hopes are high. Whilst the campaign has only been live for a few weeks, early indicators (including 10M organic views on YouTube) are very promising.