Promotional activities.

Promotional Activities..

The difference between promotional activities and advertising is that sales promotion offers an incentive to buy whereas advertising offers a reason to buy. Sales promotion includes tools for consumer promotion, trade promotion, business and sales-force promotion.

Jochen Zeitz carried out guerrilla marketing when he took over Puma in 1993, when Puma was facing biggest financial loss which helped Puma to make a surprising investment return.

Puma put limited marketing funds into low cost promotional activities instead of putting heavy funds in advertising and publicizing as its competitors do. Few examples of the promotional activities of Puma are presented.

Cardboard shoe made in "Thrift"

In the fall of 2002, Puma sponsored a sports shoes design contest named “Thrift”, participants of which are some avant-grade designers. Designers must use the old shirts, pants, ties and wallets and other raw materials to design sports shoes. The company will produce 510 pairs of shoes called “sports shoes with spirit”. These limited edition products were sought by many collectors. The price of each pair of shoes was as high as $250, and some were even collected by the London Art Museum.

Another out of box thinking and creative promotion campaign of Puma is during the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea when other sports brands spent millions of money to obtain the official sponsorship and sign a contract with stars. Puma signed a sponsorship contract with Jamaica, Tunisia and some other African football teams. On one hand, these African teams performed excellently and caught much attention from audience and media. Zeitz said that Jamaica’s and Tunisia’s athletes characters are in accordance with Puma’s brand image.

Puma Shudoh soccer ball

Puma has also organized a PR activity entitled “Shudoh”( means the ways to be the owner of the football). Besides Puma invited famous Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto to specifically design a sushi roll for the World cup, which can be supplied in major cities of the world and regard as the most common foods during the World cup.

Through the above strategies, Puma not only solve its financial problem, but also succeed in the fierce competition.