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 dierentiation................................................... Current brand portolio... portolio............... ........................ ........................ ........................ ....................... ...........
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 Ater 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 Aktiengesellscat Rudol Sport (Puma) while brother Adi incorporated incorporated as Adidas. This amily rit 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 oten exhibited by proessional 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
Outtting the worlds best soccer players
Equipping the worlds best athletes
Value Proposition
Best in class perormance
Enhances your perormance in style
Diferentiation
Innovative eatures eatures (rst removable stud)
Celebrity athlete endorsements Clandestine advertising
Persona
Elite, exclusive, personal, masculine
Exuberant, elitist, colorul, energetic
Associations
German proessional soccer team
Charismatic champions (Pele & Joe Namath) Gold medal athletes (Jim Hines)
Range o authority
Soccer boots
Soccer boots, track shoes, ootball shoes
Audience
Proessional 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 liestyle
Business survival
Mixing the infuences o spor ts, liestyle, liestyle, and ashion
Play in style and comort
High perormance with personalized t
Fits your active liestyle
Comort & 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, colorul, resh, spontaneous, individual, urban, metropolitan, international, edgy
Soccer players at all levels Champion athletes (Martina Navratilova)
Proessional soccer, tennis, track athletes Diego Maradona, Boris Becker Discount bins
Multiple sports liestyle 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
Perormance / Casual ootwear, apparel, gear, accessories
People who play sports People around sports
Young athletes, soccer athletes, track athletes,
Anyone who leads an active liestyle (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 Dierentiation 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 lie 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 dierentiating the brand rom traditional rivals, Puma requently hosts promotional events that are based around “active liestyle” themes based on dining, entertainment, ashion, and music.
Reason or Being
Mixing the infuences o sports, liestyle, and ashion
Value Proposition
Fits your active liestyle
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, colorul, resh, spontaneous, individual, metropolitan, international
Associations
Fashion brands (Gucci, Armani, Dolce Gabbana) Fringe / extreme sports Music artists & movie stars
Range o Authority
Perormance & casual ootwear Apparel & accessories
Audience
Anyone who leads an active liestyle
Relationship
Hip riend who shows you a good time
ADIDAS Adidas’s mission is to improve every athlete’s perormance through innovation. The overall Adidas brand communicates the company’s goal o using sport perorma 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 peror 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 eort communicating to the sport ootwear perorma nce segment. In response to the “sports liesty 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, masterully demonstrating the power o image marketing. Nike communicates to a wide variety o sporting and liestyle segments while retaining its ocus on high perormance 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 dierentiates itsel rom Puma by ocusing on “perormance dr iven style”, style”, whereas Puma communicate s “liest yle driven style”. style”. The Nik e brand goes head to head with the Adidas brand on the “sports perormance” ront, ercely competing to improve perormance through technologicalinnovation.
Current Brand Dierentiation
Improving every athlete’s perormance through innovation
To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world
Perorm 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 platorms (shox, air, airmax, zoom air) - Cutting edge perormance / liestyle apparel - Mass customization (NIKE ID) - Full line o perormance / liestyle 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) Unair labor practices
High perormance ootwear Perormance & casual apparel
Footwear, apparel, equipment in multiple categories
Anyone who plays sports
All athletes - anyone with a body
Respected coach
Fellow athlete
Brand Portolio Overview
Masterbrand - Sport Liestyle • Classic • Liestyle
Puma is doing exceedingly well in the world o sport liestyle where it is widely considered a leading brand that enjoys a comortable 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 perormance ootwear or world class soccer athletes. Puma also claims a “liestyle” niche and has branched o into ringe sports such as motorsports and BMX racing. B ut it is in the nonconormist 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 oerings 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 liestyle ashion industry. Pum a has leveraged the “brand name” o the designer to help to build an identity around the oering.
Brand Portolio
Masterbrand - Sport Liestyle
Masterbrand - Sport
“Classic”
Football
Suede, Roma, Brasil
Perormance,Distinctive,Heritage Perormance,Distinctiv e,Heritage
The “classic”category exploits the sporting heritage appeal o the Puma brand by oering products that combine timeless classics with the latest style. The “liestyle”brand category is made up o a wide variety o ootwear, apparel, and accessories that are trend setting, urban, and ultra hip.
“Liestyle” 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 dierent brand identities to dierentiate their oerings 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
“Liesty le” - Co Branding +
Running
Casual,Fresh,Whimsical
Ferrari
Motorsports
Technical,Mechanical,Perormance ,Mechanical,Perormance
+
Cooper Mini Motion
Women / BMX
Feminine,strength,dynamic
Brand Portolio 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 liestyle 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 liestyle o today’s style conscious adventurers.
+ Platinum is a luxury shoe line that ocuses on cratsmenship 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 conormist attitude. “Spontaneity” caters to the brand ocus on the active liestyle. 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 dened 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 perormance. “Individuality” addresses the idea that liestyle products should t and adapt to the demanding needs o each woman.
Innovative, urban and versatile, 96 Hours accomodates the on-the-go liestyle 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 liestyle” 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 oten 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 identiable 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 reerences 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 reeren ces the “circle “circle o lie”. lie”. Un like other designer collections, the nuala mark does not reerence 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 dierentiate itsel rom Puma and other competition like Stella McCartney ’s Adidas Line and Nike.
The 96 hours graphic symbol is clear, straightorward 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
Rened Color Palette Puma’s primary color palette o black, red, white, and grey is consistently used across their brand communication to uniy the dierent 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 helpul to consumers because Puma’s products (ootwear, apparel, accessories) are oered 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 reinorce the modern design nature o the brand. Puma uses the grid layout to organize the minimal copy in a clear and orderly manner shiting the ocus to the dierent product oerings. 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 oten have crisp corners that reinorce 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 uniying 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 Grati
Event Signage
Typography Logo The Puma type based logo is primarily utilized in the master brand “sport liestyle” 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 portolio 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 Liestyle Puma’s master brand website and advertising campaign employ a variety o techniques to communicate the Puma’s brand integration o sport, liestyle, and ashion. The imagery alludes to “active liestyles”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 liestyle.
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 oce 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 eectively 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 dierent 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 successul, garnering great ollowing by the young and trendy. Combining athletic sensibilities with ashion chic, PUMA has remained in the oreront 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 oering 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 liestyle 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 Liestyle Creates Dierentiation
Sub Brands Serving Premium Niches
Wearing the Brand - Inherent Brand Visibility
Puma, which has managed to dierentiate itsel rom more powerul rivals like Nike and Adidas, has emerged as a hugely infuential brand, transorming rom an alternative brand to a global icon with broader desirability. The brand’s message was rened, its voice claried and in the process, Puma has created a new market segment: sport liestyle. Now that competitors are playing in the sport liestyle segment, Puma now strives to be the most “desirable” “desirable” sport liestyle company in the world. Puma’s marketing strategy seeks to establish the brand as an icon that extends its lead in the sport liestyle 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 dierent premium niche market segments. This strategy enables the Puma master brand to ocus on the core segments o sport and sport liestyle without dilluting the brand message to its core audience.
The name PUMA has been synonymous with the athletic spirit and sport liestyle, 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 perorming athletes, and in some o their most glorious moments. Currently, the Puma brand is oten associated with people who are ashionable, trendy and lead an active liestyle. 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 dierent “anti “anti establishment” segments. By respecting the culture and voice o these groups, Puma lets the participants personiy the essence o the Puma brand, thus bringing ree word o mouth advertising and building elusive “street c red”.
Puma products generate signicant 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 eorts clearly all in Kotler’s inormation 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 liestyle category seeks to broaden the size o the market to anyone who leads an “active liestyle”. While Puma ollows the inormation 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 oten 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 uniying style, each store has its own characteristics characteristics dened 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 oten 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 oten 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 liestyle” master brand, ashionable ashionable sub brands, and designer collections they are beginning to reach new audiences through dierent 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 liestyle” lies 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 dierentiate 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 youthul 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 liestyle 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 dierent. New products needed to be showcased to the mainstream audience in a creative and unique way that was “unexpected, “unexpected, unique and dierent ” . To communicate this concept, animated animals such as monkeys, bats, bees, mice, and sh are depicted as playully 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 giting 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
