By Tess Lampe
Sportswear has always been a sales category that has given certain brands much success. In recent years, basketball sneakers and clothing has become a top priority to many sportswear brands, mainly because they are the most bought things from them. Puma, a widely known brand that was founded by a German man by the name of Rudolf Dassler, has made sure to make connections to the category of basketball through the media. Puma has partnered with many influencers such as Jay-Z, Selena Gomez, Meek Mill, and Rihanna to enforce the idea of storytelling and because those influencers are widely known on social media in many places, including Asian markets, which have proved to be very important to Puma and their business.
Puma’s main goal is to with partnering with influencers and cultures is to come back in relevancy after being absent for almost a decade and to tell good stories in the process, “basketball is the sport that most merges with the worlds of culture, hip hop, art, and fashion.” To further this motive, Puma also named one of their pairs of shoes after the NBA Hall of Famer Walt “Clyde” Frazier. Not only that, but Puma has also collaborated with and impacted many other star NBA players in the past such as a Hall of Famer and Detroit Pistons player Isiah Thomas, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagely III, Demarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, Danny Green, Kevin Knox, Michael Porter Jr., Terry Rozier, Zhaire Smith, and many more. Isiah Thomas, now 57, commented on his experience with Puma basketball shoes, “I won a lot of games in my Pumas. My fondest memories are winning the championship in them and pouring champagne on my head. … I was killing em’ in those shoes.”
Allowing such people to experience what it’s like to use Puma shoes in game and showcasing it in media with influencers and NBA stars has done exactly what Puma has wanted it to do, increase relevance in sports and tell a good story, specifically a basketball story, in the process. However, many other brands, despite them being more popular over the years, have become large in the sports industry. To compete with the dominating brands such as Nike and Adidas, Puma has tried to connect with the younger and more elite audience of not only basketball, but sports in general. Adam Petrick, director of global brand and marketing at Puma, said, “We have to be developing highly technical products that cater to the needs of elite athletes.”
Additionally, Puma has proven to be the fastest growing sports brand in the world after making a 17% sales increase, and to do that, they make sure to appeal to places like China and Asia as a whole. As mentioned before, many of the influencers Puma has partnered with are widely known in Asian markets, Puma holds them close. Asia, especially East Asia, is Puma’s fastest growing area with a sales growth of about 28.5%. To comment on this, Adam Petrick said, “We are working to understand the mindset of the consumer there, to understand what’s interesting to that consumer and providing relevant storytelling around our products that they want to buy into our brand.” All of these sales have been coming quickly from sportswear, especially due to Puma’s great storytelling, as mentioned by Petrick, towards the NBA and basketball as a whole.
Adam Petrick concluded with this statement, “Anything we can do to be relevant to our consumers, to give them something to talk about and to think about. It’s about finding the right people,” In recent years, as proven by the statistics shown by sales growth, Puma has shown great perseverance and appreciation when noticing their increasing popularity throughout the years after being barely known at all. Therefore, the outcome and continuous journey they bring themselves and their audiences on is worth it in the end as they carry on with releasing their best work.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/29/puma-sees-basketball-and-retail-stores-as-the-ways-to-fuel-its-rapid-growth.html
https://theundefeated.com/features/the-forgotten-history-of-puma-basketball/
Sportswear has always been a sales category that has given certain brands much success. In recent years, basketball sneakers and clothing has become a top priority to many sportswear brands, mainly because they are the most bought things from them. Puma, a widely known brand that was founded by a German man by the name of Rudolf Dassler, has made sure to make connections to the category of basketball through the media. Puma has partnered with many influencers such as Jay-Z, Selena Gomez, Meek Mill, and Rihanna to enforce the idea of storytelling and because those influencers are widely known on social media in many places, including Asian markets, which have proved to be very important to Puma and their business.
Puma’s main goal is to with partnering with influencers and cultures is to come back in relevancy after being absent for almost a decade and to tell good stories in the process, “basketball is the sport that most merges with the worlds of culture, hip hop, art, and fashion.” To further this motive, Puma also named one of their pairs of shoes after the NBA Hall of Famer Walt “Clyde” Frazier. Not only that, but Puma has also collaborated with and impacted many other star NBA players in the past such as a Hall of Famer and Detroit Pistons player Isiah Thomas, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagely III, Demarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, Danny Green, Kevin Knox, Michael Porter Jr., Terry Rozier, Zhaire Smith, and many more. Isiah Thomas, now 57, commented on his experience with Puma basketball shoes, “I won a lot of games in my Pumas. My fondest memories are winning the championship in them and pouring champagne on my head. … I was killing em’ in those shoes.”
Allowing such people to experience what it’s like to use Puma shoes in game and showcasing it in media with influencers and NBA stars has done exactly what Puma has wanted it to do, increase relevance in sports and tell a good story, specifically a basketball story, in the process. However, many other brands, despite them being more popular over the years, have become large in the sports industry. To compete with the dominating brands such as Nike and Adidas, Puma has tried to connect with the younger and more elite audience of not only basketball, but sports in general. Adam Petrick, director of global brand and marketing at Puma, said, “We have to be developing highly technical products that cater to the needs of elite athletes.”
Additionally, Puma has proven to be the fastest growing sports brand in the world after making a 17% sales increase, and to do that, they make sure to appeal to places like China and Asia as a whole. As mentioned before, many of the influencers Puma has partnered with are widely known in Asian markets, Puma holds them close. Asia, especially East Asia, is Puma’s fastest growing area with a sales growth of about 28.5%. To comment on this, Adam Petrick said, “We are working to understand the mindset of the consumer there, to understand what’s interesting to that consumer and providing relevant storytelling around our products that they want to buy into our brand.” All of these sales have been coming quickly from sportswear, especially due to Puma’s great storytelling, as mentioned by Petrick, towards the NBA and basketball as a whole.
Adam Petrick concluded with this statement, “Anything we can do to be relevant to our consumers, to give them something to talk about and to think about. It’s about finding the right people,” In recent years, as proven by the statistics shown by sales growth, Puma has shown great perseverance and appreciation when noticing their increasing popularity throughout the years after being barely known at all. Therefore, the outcome and continuous journey they bring themselves and their audiences on is worth it in the end as they carry on with releasing their best work.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/29/puma-sees-basketball-and-retail-stores-as-the-ways-to-fuel-its-rapid-growth.html
https://theundefeated.com/features/the-forgotten-history-of-puma-basketball/
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