Puma’s latest ‘Do You’ campaign is all about the grit and determination of women. Debosmita Majumder, Senior Manager, Marketing, Puma India talks about the idea that earned the brand a Guinness World record and the importance of impressing consumers with each new offering
By Samarpita Banerjee
Q] Puma’s recent ‘Do You’ campaign culminated into an event that saw 3,500 women doing planks together, creating a Guinness World record for the maximum number of women planking together. What was the thought behind the campaign and the event?
In the recent past, Puma has had many associations with strong women such as Rihanna and Kylie Jenner. The latest addition to the list is Cara Delevingne who has become the face of the women’s campaign globally. The campaign’s philosophy is about accepting who you are and being unapologetic because that’s when you can bring out your best self. However, we found that in India, there was no Delevingne equivalent. She is a gender experimenter and belongs to a very different space that India probably hasn’t reached yet. For us, ‘Do You’ then became a story of strength and belief in your inner core and going with your instinct. With that philosophy, we launched videos with Jacqueline Fernandez and Lisa Hayden, who are Puma’s India ambassadors. We also shot with Sakshi Malik, Kalki Koechlin, Anushka Manchanda, Ujjwala Raut, Tashi-Nungshi and Nidhi Mohan. We had an eclectic mix of women from different walks of life who have had the courage to chart new territories in terms of career choices and pushing boundaries. The aim of the campaign was to talk about the dream moment of these women, when they came to terms with it and accepted it. We launched the campaign on the back of International Girl Child’s Day on October 11. That was the first phase of our campaign.
Q] How did planking become such an important part of the campaign?
The campaign encapsulates the story of strength and individuality. We wanted to say that if one were to identify with an expression that captures both metaphorically and physically the expression of strength and core, it would be planking. Women are planking almost every day of their lives, balancing homes and work and many of society’s expectations. That was the second phase of the campaign. We got a lot of user-generated content where we encouraged women to come out and tell their stories to establish the bigger meaning of planking.
Q] Is Puma is giving more importance to targeting women now?
Today, every consumer brand notices that women are a strong consumer set whose spending powers are growing because they work and are independent. We always gave them pride of place in our retail. Even in our product line, we are a sportswear brand, but our sports style collection is very strong and that’s what differentiates us. We come out with products for women who probably want to wear something that can be worn both to the gym and a brunch. That is a very strong space for us, and therefore, we have strong focus on women, not just in our marketing campaigns, but also in the way we showcase our merchandise.
Q] What is the brand doing to promote not just running but other sports as well?
For us, running continues to be a very strong category in our entire scheme of things. We are associated with two of the biggest runs in the country including Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and Tata Steel Kolkata Marathon. We have our own property, ‘Ignite Your City’, which is a global property. As a brand, we are trying to pull people off their couches and trying to make them run. Our running focus continues. Our women’s training is again very strong, so is Football, with our Arsenal association and the recent India visit of Thierry Henry. Every year, we launch an Arsenal kit in India. Even Cricket is important. We always do very sporty campaigns during IPL. We will continue to deliver and create technically sound products that enhance every athlete’s performance. What sets us apart is that we are very high on style and fashion and thus our products have an edge.
Q] How has associating with major sporting events worked out for the brand?
ISL, as a football property, is the biggest in the country, and probably the only one which gets so many eyeballs. So when you associate with that, you establish that we are a strong player in this category reaching out to so many grass root footballers. That is very important for us.
Q] As ‘Do You’ was a completely digital campaign, is there special focus on digital in your media mix?
If we want to talk and create conversation, Twitter is our medium. If visual impact is what we want, we look at Instagram. If we are looking at story-telling, we look at YouTube. As a brand, we have never been heavily into traditional media. We do TV ads probably once a year. For us, consumer engagement is key to speaking to them and connecting the brand with them. It’s not just about selling products. If our consumer experiences the brand, their affinity is far more than if I just sold a concept to them. Millennials today don’t want to be told what they need to do. You need to hear what they want to do and then find ways to give them that. It’s very consumer-led for us.
Q] What is brand Puma’s USP in relation to competition?
The experience we create for our consumers is something they will never forget. By getting Thierry Henry and giving consumers the fan experience, we touched their hearts. More recently, the ‘Do You’ event was held at 3 pm on a Sunday, but we saw the attendance of more than 3,500 women. We gave them a platform to come and express themselves. And they felt engaged, involved and inspired. It wasn’t about coming and seeing someone or going out shopping. It was more of an emotional stirring.
Q] Has roping in celebrities for various campaigns worked out for the brand?
We don’t really work with external celebrities in our campaigns because we have our own ambassadors. We have worked with Yuvraj Singh for many years. Jacqueline is our women’s training ambassador. Lisa is our running ambassador. So we have had our own ambassadors and then we have the global ambassadors. However, ‘Do You’ was not just about celebrities, it was about finding women who have really done something very different. Tashi and Nungshi, the Everest twins, Sakshi Malik from Haryana who became a wrestler, Sucheta Pal, an engineer and MBA who started Zumba in this country… We wanted to know the stories that led these women to tread such different paths. For us, it’s not about celebrities, it’s about these women who have really got great stories, and have done things which aligns with the philosophy of our campaign.
Q] Puma entered India when it already had a few strong sportswear brands. Did being a late entrant pose challenges for the brand?
We were aware of the fact that we were late entrants; hence we came better prepared, with a very strong 360-degree strategy in terms of business, how we set up retail and what marketing we did. All together, we were prepared to take on the challenge of a late entrant and that did not really pose any problem because very soon, we raced to the top.
Q] What are your plans to increase your market-share in India?
We aren’t really marketing to increase our market-share. Marketers don’t really think in quantity. If we build equity with our consumer, that will be a natural outcome. We always want to do differentiated marketing, experiential marketing - marketing that will touch the consumer in some way. That is the way we believe in marketing and we will continue doing that. This time it was a Guinness World Record. Next time we will have to raise it even further. Our attempt would be to give another ‘wow’ experience to our consumers.
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