INTRODUCTION

PUMA

Based from my reading and observations over the past few weeks, I have chosen

PUMA as a brand that will be addressed in this assignment. Selection of PUMA as a

brand to be discussed was closely related to the life and my sports activities. For

information, brand PUMA has been my choice since before, especially in choosing

sneakers whether futsal, football, running and so on.

Fast-paced lifestyle today has changed the mindset of people and their daily activities.

Lifestyle changes as a result of changes in economic, social and cultural make people

be more selective in making things. Therefore, running has become a sport that is

dominant among the townspeople. Running can be done without cost, healthy,

happening and fun and also got the opportunity to interact with each other and it was

the factor that made this sport to be preferred.

Also, PUMA has taken measures to promote their products more towards the running

sports. All of their products such as shoes, clothes, pants, bags, and other sports

equipment have been promoted to the sport. PUMA also take a step to take Usin Bolt,

the Jamaican sprinter athlete be a brand ambassador for PUMA.

So, as a result of that, PUMA has had its own followers. PUMA has had a brand that

leads the users step forward in leads to life faster.

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BRAND BACKGROUND

PUMA is one of the world's leading Sports Brands, designing, developing, selling and

marketing footwear, apparel and accessories. PUMA is a multinational company that is

based in German and was founded by Rudolf Dassler.

For over 65 years, PUMA has established a history of making fast product designs for

the fastest athletes on the planet. PUMA offers performance and sport-inspired lifestyle

products in categories such as Football, Running, Training and Fitness, Golf, and

Motorsports. It engages in exciting collaborations with renowned design brands such as

Alexander McQueen and Mihara Yasuhiro to bring innovative and fast designs to the

sports world.

Bjørn Gulden has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PUMA since 1

July 2013 and he was a former of PANDORA’s CEO. He brings to PUMA an extensive

international experience of nearly 20 years in the sporting goods and footwear industry,

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where he held a variety of management positions. The company distributes its products

in more than 120 countries, employs more than 10,000 people worldwide.

At its beginning, PUMA had a very poor brand image that show a decline in its market

share and prompted PUMA to change it strategic decisions to improve on its image, this

process of change was led by Jochen Zeitz, PUMA Group CEO based on phases one

to four of strategic plan to change PUMA’s image so that it can compete favorable in the

marketplace and within a couple of years Jochen Zeitz had change PUMA’s brand

image into one of the most desirable and sought after brand of sportswear and footwear

worn both buy celebrities and fashion followers all over the word.

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PUMA PSYCHOGRAFIC ANALYSIS

A consumer psychographic is a profile of a potential consumer based on interests,

value, activities and opinions. It is a snapshot into a consumer's lifestyle organizations

often use to quickly identify potential customers. Companies then can use this

information to create and implement highly targeted advertising campaigns. According

to

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STRATEGIES & TACTICS

PUMA – FOREVER FASTER

PUMA has launched its largest global campaign – Forever Faster on 7th August 2014.

The campaign kicked off simultaneously all over the world. PUMA Malaysia has

selected Berjaya Times Square as its venue to officially launched their new campaign

by PUMA Southeast Asia General Manager, Miguel Andrade.

Forever Faster is another step in the process of becoming the fastest sports brand in

the world. The This strategy was the idea from the Chief Executive Officer, Bjørn

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Gulden that wanted to repositioning of PUMA to become the most faster sport brand in

the world in term of its technology, selling and so forth.

According to PUMA;

"Forever" references more than just our history, and our commitment to our classic

products. It's recognition of the endless pursuit of whatever is next - in performance

innovations, in cultural trends, and in style and fashion. While "Faster" is more than just

delivering the rational benefit of speed to athletes, we will have a single minded purpose

of celebrating faster in every sense of the word - lighter products, better fit for greater

agility, enhanced benefits that allow for extended training for speed, and every other

possible way we can deliver the fastest products for the fastest performers. The phrase

simultaneously references the emotional benefit of owning speed - the thrill, the fun, and

the swagger of Usain Bolt himself, the man who best personifies this new strategy and

ambition.

Forever Faster will be a part of a long term effort to clearly re-establish our brand in the

minds of our customers. The third quarter of 2014 will see the consumer launch of this

new brand strategy that will also encompass a new brand campaign creative direction,

supported by a large scale media campaign.

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THE OBJECTIVE & PRODUCT POSITIONING

The target audience for PUMA is everyday household consumers and professionals.

PUMA focus on designing products that are more sustainable for their consumers.

PUMA plans to make more of their   international collections of more sustainable

materials by 2015. PUMA products can be used for training but is also comfortable

enough for everyday use. In the forever faster advertisement we see that the products

the athletes deliver to their clients is also the products that they wear. It shows you that

both household consumers and professionals are using the same products. That PUMA

designs products that are both good enough for professionals and still affordable

for household consumers.

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PUMA - FOREVER FASTER

MARKETING PLAN.

The marketing plan includes formulating strategies and tactics for each of the 4Ps.

Product : PUMA will developing a promotional campaign for a new Forever Faster

branding concept

Price : PUMA is currently concentrating on the middle income to rich class income level

for its product category of sportswear.

Place : All PUMA product will be sell at all PUMA stores all over the world.

Promotion : This would include integration of various marketing techniques like sales

promotion, consumer promotion (Gift), trade promotion, advertising, in-store advertising,

for general shoe retail stores, and public relation.

This communication tools are used in a way such that they complement each other in

the communication and persuasion process. Taking into consideration, the promotional

element in brief:-

Sales Promotion

Sales promotion are of two broad types:

1) Consumer Promotion

2) Trade Promotion

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Consumer promotion.

The tools already in use by the PUMA Malaysia . The designing of the vouchers need to

be complementary to the theme used for advertising so as to reinforce the image of the

brand.

Trade Promotion.

The persuasion tool used here can be Count-Recount Allowance. Under this, the

discount is applied not to the quantity that the retailer buys from the manufacturer during

the promotional period, but only to that quantity that is moved from the retailers stores.

As a consequence, the retailer get greater incentive to pass the price cut on to the

consumer so that the product “moves” from the store into the consumers hand. This tool

can be vary beneficial for a brand like PUMA where consumers are very brand

conscious and have high bargaining power.

PUMA made use of integrated brand promotion to promote their forever faster

campaign. Integrated brand promotion is the proses of using promotional tools, working

together to create widespread brand exposure. Some of the tools include:

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Advertising

Event sponsorship

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Outdoor billboards

Brand Entertainment

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Internet advertising

Direct selling promotion

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PUMA made a range of different advertisements featuring different celebrities for the

forever faster campaign. They use athletes from different sporting types, so that they

reach a wide variety of consumers, for example K Reuben for Malaysian Football, Khoo

Chai Lin swimming and Low Wee Wern for skuasy

CREATIVE STRATEGY

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Creative strategy were done on certain aspect based on two approaches:

Rational & Emotional

So, PUMA use a combination of rational and emotional approaches for its advertising

campaign.

Rational

1. Comparative

Compares what the brand is offering with what other brand are offering, on the basis of

certain rational components, implicit ads just say that their brand is better then the

others in the market not directly talking about or showing other brand compared.

2. Refutational

Deals with the problem of counter argument. Refutes something that people usually

believe, and tells how the brand solves the problem.

3. Inoculative

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RATIONAL EMOTIONAL

Comparative Warmth

Refutational Fear/Anxiety

Inoculative Humor

Advertising that makes the audience less receptive of a competitors advertising by

creating a barrier between what the consumer could buy and what the competitor is

selling.

Rational approach is usually used where quick response is required or where the

product is high thinking product.

So such approach might not prove useful for PUMA because it lies in the high

involvement, feeling category of product, where a long term liking has to be created in

the mind of the audience, which is possible by the emotional approach, though certain

elements of rationality can also be used.

Emotional

1. Warmth

It creates a liking for what is being presented or the way in which it is presented. The

warmth created project itself on the brand, and the brand thus get associated with

feeling of warmth, joy and happiness

2. Fear/ Anxiety

It has to be used very carefully so that it doesn’t get rejected. It psychologically affects a

person without making any negative impact. It is more useful for product targeted at

safety aspect.

3. Humor

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It gets more attention, but because PUMA product is high involvement, PUMA would not

want to play down on the serious connect with the audience as humor has a short life

span and is very individualistic. So PUMA would use a combination of rational and

emotional approaches for its advertising campaign.

PUMA - FOREVER FASTER

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MALAYSIA MAIN EVENT – PUMA NIGHT RUN 2014

On 26 October 2014, the event of PUMA Night Run as held at Setia Alam, Selangor.

Thousands of running enthusiast came from all walks of life and swarmed Setia Alam in

Selangor for the first ever PUMA Night Run yesterday.

Organised by PUMA Malaysia, the 3,000 allotted running slots were filled up within the

first three days of the launch which was held in August this year.

The PUMA Night Run was flagged off by Melvin Siew, Country Manager for PUMA

Malaysia, at precisely 7.30pm. The atmosphere was simply electrifying as the runners

braced through the cold night under brightly-lit street lights, passing through gazetted

tracks as they were cheered on by members of the neighbourhood.. 

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The PUMA Night Run is a custom-designed run spanning across 10km around Setia

Alam. The night run was a fusion of fitness together with fun. This night run encouraged

runners to experience the joy of running and to work hard in completing this night

course.

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Promotion Activities BEFORE PUMA Night Run 2014

Before the main event – PUMA Night Run 2014, PUMA Mobium Elite has sent shock

waves to all runners and performance alike in Malaysia. Following this revolutionary

technology in footwear, the Mobium Elite movement has landed in various parks,

together with PushMore trainers and Gorgeous Fitness Centres, taking this opportunity

to educate the public on proper running techniques.

Participant takes the opportunity to wear PUMA Mobium Elite, testing out the efficient,

as PushMore trainers guide them step-by-step the proper techniques of running in

Gorgeous Fitness Centre, Puchong

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Participants are given the opportunity to try out the new PUMA Mobium Elite, as they

run on the treadmill, letting the Mobium Elite adapts with the body in motion, mimicking

the Windlass Chassis of foot’s expansion and contraction as they run.

The highlight of this activation is to further elevate the Mobium Elite Challenge, where

the participants demonstrate their efficiency in running with the goal to be crowned as

the Malaysia’s most efficient male and female runners representing Malaysia in PUMA

Night Run in Singapore and Korea.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aaker,D. A,Batra,R,& Myers,J. G. 1992. Advertising Management. Fourth Edition.

Prentice Hall, London.

Kotler, P. 1991. Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and

Control. Seventh Edition. Engelwood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Mulvihill, Donald F., 1951, Marketing Research For a Small Company, Journal of

Marketing, Vol. 16, No. 2.

Percy L. 2008. Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications. Theory and Practice. Elsevier,

www.puma.com

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