For a brand like Puma, surviving and getting its second wind in a crowded market among such strong competitors as Nike and Adidas might mean actually thinking outside the market, i.e. turning from a sports sector with its tough competition to a more tolerant lifestyle clothing and apparel market. This idea was first discussed in Bloomberg Businessweek article dedicated to the dynamics of Puma sales over the last ten years.
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Comparison stands behind any considered choice, and any confident global brand tends to provide its consumers with an opportunity to examine both the positive and negative sides of their products—and sometimes weigh its offerings against goods by other manufacturer. Sometimes, companies also step outside the product world and help compare lots of other things—sexes, automobiles, brothers, tastes, political parties, athletes and more—to help determine which of the two is better, stronger, messier, tastier, faster, more attractive, reliable, sportive, etc. In this overview, we won’t focus on serious ratings revealing carbon footprint or social impact, like Nike’s Environmental Apparel Design Tool, Timberland’s Eco Index or GoodWill’s rating—instead, as tribute to April Fool’s Day, which was celebrated last Friday, we will focus on humorous and tongue-in-cheek projects.
The story of close relationship between brands and cinematography started nearly at the same time as the cinema itself was born—in the beginning of the movie era, the big companies promoted their products though short clips which were screened before movies. Now it’s not that easy to tell for sure for which product the pioneer ad was created, but according to a range of sources (IMDB is one of them), the first filmed advertising for a today’s global brand was shot for Dewar’s Scotch Whisky (1897). Today, connections between filmmaking industry and brands go beyond this simple presence and include a lot of examples such as much discussed product placement, festival sponsorship and opening cinema clubs, cinema-related advertising campaigns, collaboration with filmmakers on commercials, and creating movies under brands’ supervision.
Puma brings fun and irreverence to the sports sphere once again with the launch of the Puma Social campaign in Canada. With the launch of the project, the brand is honouring groups of friends who know the joy of playing sports at the bar rather than at the gym. It shuns the serious nature of organized sports and celebrates social sports that are timeless and authentic.
Ahead of this St. Valentine’s Day, Puma helped single Melbournians find their love in the ‘sportive settings,’ gave couples an opportunity to spend an unconventional Valentine’s weekend and promoted urban running at the same time. On February 12, the lifestyle and sportswear brand launched Puma Love Run, inviting people of Melbourne to have a nice time together covering a distance between 4.5km or 6.5km in the inner-city park Birrarung Marr—all for love.
At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, brands showed their dedication to cinematography by presenting their own projects or announcing their future contributions to the field. While Honda was premiering its eighth film from the ‘Dream The Impossible’ series, Puma stepped out launching its PUMA.Creative Impact Award from the set of filmmaking initiatives announced last fall. This is an annual competition, which is designed to highlight documental projects, which have made (or are making) the most significant impact in the world.
Puma unveiled a new tool for rating popular things within the After-Hours Athlete campaign launched last summer. The online concept dubbed ‘Life Scoreboard’ enables visitors to the online destination to vote for their favourite answers to various questions ranging from “Which pets are better, cats or dogs?” to “Which computer rules, Mac or PC?”