In about seven years since its entry into India, Puma is on its way to becoming the second largest sports company in the country. The company’s focus has been on innovation - both in products and connecting with consumers on the digital platform. Rajiv Mehta, Managing Director, Puma India tells us how combining sports and lifestyle is helping the company run ahead at full steam
By Simran Sabherwal
What is the USP of brand Puma in relation to competition in the sports shoes/sports lifestyle wear category? Where would you place your brand in the category viz-a-viz brands such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Fila, etc?
Puma is a leading ‘SportLifestyle’ company – and we believe that high performance, fitness, style and fashion all go hand-in-hand. Our brand ethos of “joy” and fun is what we will try to bring to our consumers while simultaneously driving home the point of staying fit. This will differentiate us from our competition.
We have always been focused on our lifestyle space and have carved a niche there. With the launch of the Puma Mobium Elite, we want to expand and reclaim our performance ground because our products are path-breaking. Currently, we are among the top three sportswear brands in the country and will become the second largest by the end of the year.
What is the promotion strategy being used to promote the Mobium Elite? What is your pricing strategy?
The marketing strategy for Mobium Elite includes a lot of experiential marketing through seeding with gyms, serious runners and running clubs across the country. We have also tied up with a BTL event, which includes a corporate relay race called PUMA Urban Stampede. Through these activations, we aim to make consumers aware of the serious performance products.
The outdoor campaign is focused on bringing out the brand’s features through high-impact outdoor and innovations. It’s a mix of high-impact billboards in key locations to drive home the product benefits in key running markets of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Besides this, Puma India has also targeted visibility in the digital domain, with brand presence on the homepages of Yahoo and YouTube. Puma Mobium Elite is priced at Rs 7,999.
What does your media mix look like and what role does Digital play in your marketing strategy?
Given that our primary audience is the youth, the Digital medium is paramount to our marketing strategy. From campaign to campaign, we work with the Print, TV and Outdoor media as well. We see tangible results from our campaigns online and are able to involve the customer by proving them real-time content, videos, images and information about the brand and our activities. People react and interact with us and this helps us know what our audience is thinking and give them more of what they are looking for.
The objective of our Digital strategy is to inform and involve the customer, so our Digital campaigns have to be innovative, cutting-edge and beyond the mere Facebook and Twitter plans that we currently see in India. Our use of social media goes beyond mere one-way conversations and we actively engage with our audience by working with online influencers, bloggers, etc
What does your communication seek to convey about the brand? How do you rise above the clutter to be heard?
We are one of the few brands that allows its audience to customize their own products. This started in 2010, with Puma Creative Factory, where we allowed people to design their own Puma shoes. In 2012, we re-introduced Puma Creative Factory with the iconic T7 Track Jacket customization event. No other brands right now let their audience engage with them on such a one-to-one and personal level and it is this communication that allows us stronger brand recall and loyalty with our audience.
You had an innovative comic strip-based brand campaign for IPL 5. What are you doing around the IPL this year?
This season, we have introduced a new concept called Puma Cricket Studio, a five-episode series featuring two cricketers in each episode. These sessions will be held at Puma stores in key cities during the IPL. The unique and exclusive video content will be made available on the brand’s YouTube and social media channels. Puma launched the first episode of Puma Cricket Studio with Adam Gilchrist and Yuvraj Singh.
We are also launching Puma Finger Bash – an application that will be hosted on the Puma Cricket Facebook page and allows people to play ‘virtual cricket’ with their friends and other cricketers. The game has a lot of potential to go viral.
How has the association with your Indian brand ambassadors Yuvraj Singh & Chitrangada Singh been? Do you think it is money well spent for the brand’s benefit?
Yuvraj announced the registrations for the corporate relay running - Puma Urban Stampede in January and was also part of the first episode of Puma Cricket Studio along with Adam Gilchrist in April, 2013. For the fitness category, Chitrangada has been our brand ambassador and launched the campaign Move Faas - the search for the ‘faastest’ men and women runners in India. She was also a part of the Puma Urban Stampede to announce the registrations at Hyderabad.
You have declared 2013 as Puma’s ‘Year of Performance Innovation’. What initiatives will we see in this direction and what are the future plans for customer engagement?
Nature of Performance is an overarching platform launched across the Puma brand in 2013. It will provide a consistent voice, look and feel within our performance product categories from Football to Running/Training. The campaign rolls out across all verticals in conjunction with new innovative performance products that launch this spring. The Performance space will continue to be an area of major focus – given this high-tech and revolutionary nature of all the products we are launching.
What is your current market-share and what are your plans to up your share? Are you looking at new store launches and in which region/areas?
Puma’s market-share is 30-35% of the Rs 36,000 crore Indian sportswear market. We are looking to add 40 more stores to our existing 270 stores by the year-end. We are looking to expand in Tier-II and III markets with robust demand and hope to enter around six new cities by 2013-end, taking up our presence to 81 cities.
How has the sports/running culture evolved in India?
We have seen a phenomenal increase in participation or interest in the sport of running; there’s an increase in the number of people registering for and running marathons. A few of them run to be fit; others take some time off from the stressed technology-driven life.
BOX
Puma’s Urban Stampede Puma’s Urban Stampede is India’s only national running property designed specifically for corporates. The run is relay-formatted, where teams comprise four members each, competing for the title of the fastest corporate running team. The race is an initiative to increase awareness of Puma’s performance products and promote fitness and wellness. Puma looks to add more cities and involve more companies and more teams.
MARKETING TIP
Be risky and dare to be different – that’s the only way you’ll be heard.
FACTS
• Media agency - OMD
• Social and digital media marketing agency – Interactive
• PR agency - Madison PR
CMO FILE
Rajiv Mehta was identified by Puma to head their Indian operations at the age of 27 on completion of his MBA from Insead University in Singapore. Mehta is credited with the transformation of Puma from being a new entrant to becoming one of the largest sports companies in India. Mehta spearheads the marketing and distribution of Puma in India. A chemical engineer from ICT in Mumbai, Mehta completed his MS at the University of Pennsylvania. He started his career with BOC in New Jersey, taking responsibility for driving research, design and development before doing his MBA.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Puma is one of the world’s leading SportLifestyle companies that designs and develops footwear, apparel and accessories. Puma’s Sport Performance and Lifestyle labels include categories such as Football, Running, Motorsports, Golf and Sailing. Sport Fashion features collaborations with renowned designer labels such as Alexander McQueen and Mihara Yasuhiro. The Puma Group owns the brands Puma, Cobra Golf and Tretorn. In India, the company is headquartered in Bangalore.
