Consumer first
In June 2023, PUMA reorganized its global marketing operations and appointed Richard Teyssier as the new Vice President Brand & Marketing. We caught up with Richard to speak about his vision for PUMA and how he plans to elevate the brand in the future.
Richard, one of PUMA’s strategic priorities is to elevate the brand. What role does marketing have to play in this?
To elevate the brand, we need to enhance the whole consumer experience. Our marketing team’s role will be to understand our consumers and create a strong emotional connection with them in all our key categories.
What is your vision for marketing at PUMA?
We have everything we need to become the best marketing team in the industry: great, fully engaged people, a fantastic brand and a FOREVER. FASTER. company culture.
What will you keep doing?
In Teamsport, we have developed a great roster of teams and players. The way we activate them on social media is best in class, and that gives the visibility of our brand a real boost. In Running, we have a strong range of products designed to meet all the main functional needs of runners. We communicate clearly, with a focus on our main franchises and our key technology NITRO™. In Basketball, we have a unique position and the most creative approach to communication in the market. What we have achieved in five years is just unbelievable: we are already number two in performance footwear in the US. Nobody else could have done that. We also did an incredible job in Motorsport by activating influencers in this category on social media and hosting an impressive series of events at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. In Sportstyle, the launches of the Palermo, the Avanti and the Creeper went really well. What we also need to keep is the way we work with our partners in all categories. We have created a unique emotional connection with all of them, which makes collaborating productive and fun!
What needs to change?
First of all, we need to put the consumer at the centre of our decision-making processes. By doing so, we will streamline our efforts so that we focus on areas where we maximize value creation. More specifically, we have noticed that we are a bit behind our main competitors when it comes to brand consideration and brand preference. One of the root causes is a fragmented and mainly product-focused approach to communication. We will launch a brand campaign in 2024 to create a strong emotional connection with our consumers. This brand campaign will set our creative direction for the next two years and create the consistency we are looking for.
What can we expect for 2024?
2024 is our year of sports. There are so many exciting events taking place this year, like the Olympics, Euro 2024 and the Copa America. We will make sure to be part of these fantastic events and share all the key moments by creating the best reactive content ever. We will also be reaching out to consumers with a highly emotional brand campaign that features some of our best-known athletes. I can’t reveal too much at this stage, but we have been working with some of the most creative minds around to curate a great campaign which will resonate with consumers around the world and elevate the brand.