PUMA, a multinational company founded in Germany in 1948, is one of the leading sport lifestyle companies in the world. During the London Olympics, PUMA launched a social-powered online and offline experience called "PUMA Yard." As a result of this campaign and others (created with Wildfire's Social Marketing Suite), PUMA has lifted social engagement and boosted sales. It continues to build on its reputation as a social marketing groudbreaker.
Approach
Used Wildfire's Social Marketing Suite to manage workflows and category social pages for different regional brands and sports
During the London Olympics, PUMA hosted an integrated online and offline social experience called "The Yard"
Streaming video, photography and blog content sourced from The Yard and Jamaica lived on Wildfire-powered social pages and PUMA's website
Goals
Continuously engage PUMA's global audience with a steady drip of content
Manage the social pages and campaigns for PUMA's sub-brands, regions and community managers
Seamlessly integrate a cross-network social element into integrated online and offline campaigns
Results
PUMA has been able to diversify its social content and eliminate the bottlenecks that previously hampered its social marketing execution
The brand's millions of followers are highly engaged and frequently interact with the brand across social networks
With Wildfire, PUMA now has a place on its Facebook page to host visitors, and this in turn generates sales and visits to PUMA.com
Goal
With a fan base of 7.6 million on their global Facebook page, Puma decided to prioritize engaging with loyal followers versus focusing solely on follower growth. The company needed to devise a highly effective social marketing strategy that would better engage its loyal advocates and get people talking about the brand online. Additionally, with a global presence, multiple sport product lines, and various regional pages, Puma wanted a social marketing tool that would be easy for creative agency partners to use, so they could efficiently push content out to various sub-brand and regional pages.
Background
Puma is known for its deep, multi-social network engagement strategy. It offers a steady flow of content across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and YouTube. Its social strategy is integrated closely with other marketing channels; Puma campaigns drive fans to and from its social pages in order to deepen engagement and to drive conversions on its website.
Puma knows its different regional and sub-brand audiences respond to different types of content. While some content speaks to Puma's global audience, other content really resonates with specific markets, so Puma provides a multi-media mix of social content with event sizzle reels, photography and video of Puma products, sponsored athlete footage, local offline events, fashion shows, etc. For example, Puma's YouTube page has over 1,500 videos, and about 20 to 30 new videos launch each week!
With respect to emerging networks like Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest, Puma likes to be a social frontrunner, jumping in and figuring out how to take advantage of the unique features of each network to reach its audience. In fact its Instagram presence is being touted by media as an example of "best in class" social branding. Sometimes being a social frontrunner means there aren't established industry "best practices" to follow, so Puma takes the lead and carefully tests what works on new networks, adjusting its strategy as needed.
Solution
As an enterprise subscription client to Wildfire's Social Marketing Suite, Puma utilizes Wildfire's full range of tools to manage each of its category pages for different regional brands and sports, such as Puma Fitness, Football, Motorsport, Rugby, and Running, as well as its global Facebook page. The tab functionality and library of page templates allow each Puma Category Manager to be creative, and to quickly roll out campaigns via Wildfire's user friendly content management system.
The aesthetically appealing tabs create stickiness and viral media across Puma's pages by giving fans a host of ways to engage. For example, Puma held an event in New York where fans could take fun photos in a photo booth. The brand then created a custom tab on its Facebook page that displayed the photos in a visually appealing way for all fans to see, whether or not they had attended the event.
In order to reach all segments of its global audience effectively, Puma relies on Wildfire's Messages tool to post social messages multiple times a day, pushing out relevant content to various regional pages. It utilizes Message's ability to geo-target and schedule future posts for the times of day when users are most likely to respond.
Featured Campaign
For two weeks during the recent Olympic games in London, Puma hosted an integrated online and offline social experience called "The Yard," highlighting both London and the Puma-sponsored fan favorite Jamaican track team. "The Yard" was a physical space set up in London, where Puma hosted musicians, DJs, athletes, and bartenders known for their "flair" in whipping up concoctions while spinning bottles in the air. A "Pongathon" allowed users to get active via a live ping-pong tournament.
Streaming video, photography and blog content sourced from The Yard lived on Puma's website (puma.com/yard) and a Wildfire-powered social pages. Puma also had remote bloggers and content generators in Jamaica feeding real time content to Puma's site and Facebook page. The flood of fresh multi-media content kept fans coming back every day, posting and tweeting about Puma throughout the Olympics.
Results
Since subscribing to Wildfire's Social Marketing Suite, Puma has been able to diversify its social content and eliminate the bottlenecks that previously hampered its social marketing strategy. It can easily cooperate with its agencies while publishing specific, relevant content on all of its social pages. The brand's millions of followers are highly engaged and frequently interact with the brand across social networks, especially during special events and campaigns. Puma now has a place on its Facebook page to host visitors, and this in turn generates sales and visits to Puma.com, where they can browse Puma's products. For example, when Puma released a new iPhone app it created a custom Facebook tab that sent users straight to the app store, significantly increasing app sales.
Company
Puma, a multinational company founded in Germany in 1948, is one of the leading sport lifestyle companies in the world. The company designs and develops footwear, apparel, and accessories, and its labels include categories such as Football, Running, Motorsports, Golf and Sailing. In the past the brand has collaborated with renowned designers such as Alexander McQueen, Mihara Yasuhiro, and Sergio Rossi. Puma distributes products in more than 120 countries and employs over 11,000 people worldwide.
