CORPORATE STRATEGY

Sports gear brand Puma is revamping its global marketing operation

By our News Team | 2023

Company CEO believes Puma still has ‘significant opportunities’ to leverage the full potential of its 75-year-old brand.

Global sporting apparel and equipment brand Puma has announced a major reorganisation of its marketing operation. It says this will “lay the organisational foundation to relentlessly drive brand elevation as one of our key strategic priorities”.

The changes include moving the Brand Management and Marketing Operations departments from their current base in the US to the Puma corporate headquarters in Germany, and the appointment of a new Global Chief Brand Officer.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

There will also be a strengthening of the Puma North America marketing structure, given that the brand has been underperforming in that market, relative to other regions.

According to the company, moving to Germany will “improve alignment and accelerate decision-making with the company’s global business units, global go-to-market function, and creative direction”.

The change in marketing leadership is due to the current incumbent, 20-year company veteran Adam Petrick, deciding not to move to Germany. He is being replaced as Global Chief Brand Officer by Richard Teyssier, who was previously Regional General Manager for Europe.

Broad marketing experience gained elsewhere

“Richard has broad expertise in brand management and marketing after 17 years in leading marketing functions at Mars Inc., where he was responsible for some of the company’s most iconic brands,” Puma says in a media statement.

“Puma’s brand is at the heart of our company’s success,” states Arne Freundt, company CEO.

“Yet, our analyses clearly show that Puma has significant opportunities to leverage the full potential of its brand. This is why relentlessly elevating our brand is one of our key strategic priorities.

“With the Global Marketing Organization being based in proximity to our key central functions at the HQ, we will lay the organisational foundation for this. It will ensure brand consistency and speed up decision-making to further strengthen the brand and it will make us even more consumer-centric. With the new setup, we will be able to drive more impactful campaigns to further establish our brand in the minds of our consumers.”

Puma’s figures for the first quarter of 2023 showed a 14.4% increase in sales to approximately US$304-billion. This was largely driven by a strong performance in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with sales growing 25.4%.

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