Targets and strategy
With its brand elevation strategy, PUMA aims to strengthen its brand and improve its distribution quality. By implementing this strategy, we want to realise long-term growth, grow faster than the market and gain further market share.
Our brand elevation strategy consists of three elements: a distinctive brand DNA, a strong performance business that gives PUMA the credibility and authenticity it needs as a sports company and strengthening our relevance in Sportstyle Prime.
By elevating the brand, we want to anchor PUMA even better with our consumers and create an emotional connection with them. PUMA is already one of the most recognised brands in the industry, with a history of more than 75 years alongside the world's fastest athletes. Our brand has one of the most recognisable logos and is synonymous with many historic sporting moments, partnerships with legendary athletes and ground-breaking innovations. However, we believe PUMA can do even more when it comes to building consumer engagement and brand loyalty.
In 2024, our first brand campaign in 10 years’ time was an important step in our brand elevation journey. Encouraged by the positive results we have received, we will continue to invest in brand campaigns that appeal to our consumers on an emotional level. Our newly established Consumer Insights department ensures that our brand positioning is underpinned by the relevant data and that we invest in a balanced media mix at a sufficient level. It also enables us to make our storytelling more consistent across all PUMA categories and touchpoints, whether through brand campaigns or when promoting individual products.
A strong performance credibility is part of PUMA's history and reflects the vision of our founder Rudolf Dassler, who wanted to give his athletes the speed and agility of a big cat. PUMA focuses on new innovations to push the boundaries of performance. By focusing on our athletes, clubs and associations, we can show how PUMA helps them break records and set new personal bests - proving that our technology performs at the highest level.
The Paris Olympics was a great example of how PUMA was able to use the global visibility of this event and enhance its credibility as a sports brand with the great performances of its athletes. We aim to continue working with relevant and successful brand ambassadors and have signed new partnerships in 2024 with Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc, NBA star Tyrese Halliburton and 18-year-old sprint star Christian Miller, to name just a few.
Innovation is the cornerstone of our performance products. A great example is our NITROTM technology, which is recognised as one of the best foams in the industry and provides our athletes with shoes with superior responsiveness and cushioning. NITROTM is not only part of our running products, but has also been introduced in other business units, such as basketball with the All-Pro and golf with the Phantomcat. Innovation is also at the centre of our football franchises FUTURE, ULTRA and KING, for which we launched new innovative versions in 2024.
As our data shows, we were able to gain market share in the highly competitive football and performance running markets. This gives us confidence that our positioning and the communication of our innovations are working.
We see Sportstyle Prime as a great opportunity for PUMA. It is therefore crucial for future growth that we establish ourselves as a relevant brand in this area.
As part of this strategy, we focus on generating demand before launching our products and then bringing larger volumes to market to maximise our commercial success. We believe this approach gives us the opportunity to capitalise on trends for longer. In 2024, we created buzz for our low-profile Speedcat style, initially with select drops and collections at influential accounts, with two different colourways in red and black, before introducing the style in more colours for the commercial launch and wider distribution at the end of the year. In the meantime, we focused on maximising the terrace and skate trends in 2024 by launching new and exciting versions of our key franchises such as the Palermo and Suede XL.
To create a relevant offering, we will ensure that we use a unique design language in all our products that conveys our sports DNA and is authentic to our brand. The Speedcat, which has its roots in motorsport, is a good example of this approach.
To inspire our consumers, we not only draw on our impressive portfolio of global entertainment ambassadors, but also on many other influencers who are locally relevant and have a major impact on their communities.
In 2024, K-pop sensation Rosé proved to be the perfect ambassador for our Palermo and Speedcat, while artist and designer A$AP Rocky made a splash and attracted a lot of media attention with limited edition collections for the new styles Inhale and Mostro.
Strengthening the brand is also important when it comes to improving our distribution quality in wholesale. We are continuously working to increase our distribution quality by focussing on strategic wholesale partners. We are committed to our approach of being the best partner for our wholesale partners and providing the best and fastest service in the industry. While our wholesale partners remain our priority, we see our DTC business as a complementary channel to deliver a great brand experience to our consumers.
Improving our distribution quality also plays a key role in our focus market, the USA. In 2024, we opened our newest flagship store in Las Vegas, which allows us to connect with US consumers and the millions of international tourists who visit the city every year. To bring products to market that appeal to local preferences, we set up a creative workshop for our design and marketing teams at the PUMA Studio in Los Angeles. In addition, we collaborate with key brand ambassadors such as Rihanna, A$AP Rocky and LaMelo Ball. We are convinced that the increase in our sales growth in the US in the second half of 2024 compared to the first half of the year proves that our strategy in the US is working.
In China, we were able to improve our distribution quality and increase our turnover by introducing new store formats and increasing our presence on digital sales channels. These digital channels not only offer us an interesting opportunity to sell our products to Chinese customers, but also to inspire them with marketing activities such as the catwalk show at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Shanghai.
Continuous investment in our infrastructure, for example in distribution centres, offices and IT systems, is essential for long-term, sustainable growth. In 2024, we opened a new warehouse in Arizona, among other locations, which will support our growth in the important US market. We have also opened the Studio48 creative hubs in Herzogenaurach and Los Angeles, which give our designers the opportunity to develop new concepts for products and campaigns across different departments or with external partners.
Our employees are at the centre of PUMA's culture and success. PUMA thrives on diversity, inclusion and equality, enriched by the many nationalities and different backgrounds of our employees. We believe that diversity is one of our greatest strengths, and we are delighted to have once again been named a global Top Employer in 2024.
With our FOREVER.BETTER. sustainability strategy, we have fully integrated sustainability into all core areas of our business. In 2024, we announced our Vision2030 goals in the areas of climate change, circularity and human rights. These targets build on the progress we have already made in these areas in recent years. Over the course of the year, our sustainability strategy was recognised with several awards and top positions in industry rankings, e.g. in Time Magazine's "World's Most Sustainable Companies" list, "Climate Leaders" in the Financial Times Europe and the German Sustainability Award.
