After a 20-season hiatus, PUMA surprised the world by re-entering the basketball category in 2018. The brand signed NBA legends and prospects, elicited Jay-Z as its creative director, and introduced both new and legacy products to the marketplace. To continue that narrative and build off the momentum from its 2019 All-Star Weekend activation, PUMA sought out to disrupt and innovate ahead of a key silhouette drop and ambassador announcement this February.
As a brand that stands at the intersection of fashion, sport, and culture, PUMA held the responsibility of pushing the boundaries and making every touchpoint innovative, meaningful, and relevant to its game-changer audience. To fully express PUMA’s narrative, we needed to push the boundaries of the brand’s behavior through media formats at the start of 2020. PUMA faced the challenge of a highly competitive market, with brands who far outspend it when creating memorable experiences for NBA fans. We needed to look outside of traditional marketing channels to reinforce PUMA’s narrative of reinventing and reimagining sport culture while driving heat for basketball enthusiasts. Arguably one of the biggest moments of the year for hoops fans, the NBA All-Star Weekend has become just as much lifestyle as sport. Buzz bleeds from the court to the streets, with influencers and celebrities alike sporting courtside apparel. This weekend in February emerged as the perfect context for PUMA. Having identified that cultural moment, we began brainstorming strategic ways to meaningfully interweave PUMA into the event without getting drowned out by the noise.
In partnership with Firefly, we tapped into the latest in technology to bring North America’s first-ever holographic activation to the Chicago market. Capturing the attention of hoops fans and sneakerheads alike, we mounted an image of the PUMA Sky Dreamer sneaker atop Alfa Romeo and Audi cars in front of the Chicago’s most iconic landmarks and high-traffic areas, including the United Center, the site of the All-Star Weekend’s events.
The effort successfully drove heat for the brand, capturing attention on the ground and increasing interest in the Sky Dreamer. Throughout the course of those three days, branded mentions on social increased 114%. In addition, the holograms garnered national attention through press coverage across the ad trades, as well as in retail and consumer publications, including Women’s Wear Daily, Campaign U.S., and Yahoo! Finance, among others. The coverage delivered over 48 million earned media impressions, an advertising value equivalent of $442,091.69, and drove PUMA basketball search interest up 100% online according to Google Trends.
