BRAND

MANAGEMENT
PROJECT ON
PUMA

By;
Rathod(51)

Vinodh

Vishwanath.M.P(52)
Introduction
Brand Management is an important task of marketing which consists in
building brands., the goal of managers is to build "strong brands" and this
strength is determined by consumer perception. The main function of a
brand is to create meaning in consumers' mind. Brand management has
evolved throughout the time from a functional branding to other branding
techniques.
Background of PUMA
In this assignment I have taken PUMA Company. Puma was established in
the year 1924 as Gebride Dazzler by Aldol & Rudolf Dazzler. They started it
as a family business, later both brothers agreed to split it as the relationship
between went deteriorated. Thus they split in in the year 1948 and formed
two different companies namely Adidas &Puma. The Puma is based in
Germany. Its head quarter is in Herzogenrrch. Puma is one of the shoes,
clothing and accessories, company. It is the world's largest supplier of
accessories. The PUMA Group claims the brands PUMA, Cobra Golf and
Tretorn. The organization disperses its items in more than 120 nations and
utilizes more than 9,000 individuals around the world. PUMA has always
committed to the four pillars: heritage, sports, technological innovation
and design. The focus of their brands is the combination of sport, lifestyle
and fashion effect, bringing a unique design and the general economic
outlook for each group of products. PUMA sees sport as a philosophy of life
- one emphasizes fitness, health, &life is the active life. Because the
movement can be different things to different people, Puma near it in the
broader context of life, without sacrificing performance. The company

appointed Mr Jochen Zeith as CEO of the Company in the year 2000 since
than the company main aim is to lead PUMA brands globally, Cobra Golf,
Den Bosh Socks, Puma Sports, and Puma Crick Boots etc.

Objective
The objectives of this project is to understand about brand management
and how brand management is essential and it impact on consumers. I will
also discuss the challenges & importance of brand management and its
impact on the organization.

Puma
Parent Company
Puma Societas Europa Incorporation
Category
Sports Shoes,Apparel and accessories
Sector
Lifestyle and Retail

Tagline/ Slogan

 Be Light; Celebrate Anytime Anywhere

USP
Innovation and Ultimate comfort in the apparel and products.
STP
Segment
Sportsmen, Men and women who like sporty energetic apparel with a spray
of uniqueness in their apparel.
Target Group
Urban young upper middle class and upper class Men and Women
Positioning
Puma is an international brand with creativity, energy and style in their
apparel at a very affordable price.

 Brand Image
Puma has a good brand image in a mind of a customers,its a image that
comes to the mind of the customer when they think of puma brand.

Brand Image or LOGO of Puma

Brand Personality :

A Brands relationship with human being, his characteristics and personality.

Puma can be related to personality which has characteristics like
innovative, fun loving, exciting, outgoing, energetic, full of life etc.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths
1. Puma is established over 90 countries and employs around 8300
employees all over the world.
2. Puma is the main producer of enthusiast droving shoes and racing suits
in both Formula One and NASCAR.
3. Puma has entered into partnerships with famous companies like Ferrari
and BMW.
4. Puma brand is very innovative and has a very rich Research and
Development team. The Company produced the first screw boots for
football and Mexico 68 with the innovative brush soles, which were the
most comfortable running shoes.
5. Puma has an excellent brand name throughout the world.

6. The brand has excellent management and marketing strategies and has
the advertised the products very well and eye-catching throughout the
world.
7. Puma has entered into sponsorships with various players and teams in
different sects of the sporting industry.
8. Puma was the official sponsor of the FIFA football World Cup
Weaknesses
1.Puma has tough competition and limited market share compared to Nike
and Adidas
2.The company has less financial strength compared to the other brands in
the industry
Opportunities
1. The company can attain more sponsorship as more international events
in the sporting industry are taking place.
2.The company can start entering the lifestyle section of the industry
Threats
1. The current economic situation is very bleak, hence expansion is
minimal.

2. There is extensive completion from existing players an new players

which is growing in the industry.
3.Imitations of the brand is extensively increasing

Brand Management Application

Marketing strategists agree that brand awareness in any industry gives that
company an edge. Brand awareness accomplishes several objectives for
companies seeking to increase sales in the marketplace. A brand awareness
campaign needs to be flexible enough to grow with the company and adjust
if needed. The company should seek to build customer awareness, promote
its website and add value.
The most important application I can say is to build the customer
awareness and promote the brands through different channels like,
websites and other media, Facebook, etc. and important application is to
add the values.

Identify and discuss the branding strategies applied

by PUMA
A branding strategy helps establish a product within the market and to
build a brand that will grow and mature in a saturated marketplace.
Making smart branding decisions up front is crucial since a company may

have to live with the decision for a long time. Great brand strategy revolves
around clearly articulating the differentiation against competitors. One
must continually push these differentiators to customers. One of the best
ways to achieve this is by aligning the branding with the companys unique
value propositions.
As for as PUMA is concerned they have committed to working in ways that
contribute to the world by supporting creativity, safe sustainability and
peace and by staying true to the value of being fair, honest, positive and
creative in decision made and action taken.

Some of the main branding strategies of PUMA is to bring

the idiosyncratic & an international position by blending influence
on sports, and the life style & fashion.
Alternatively, in a very saturated market, a supplier can deliberately launch
totally new brands in apparent competition with its own existing strong
brand & often with identical product characteristics, to soak up some of the
share of the market. The rationale is that having 3 out of 12 brands in such
a market will give a greater overall share than having 1 out of 10. PUMA is a
leading exponent of this philosophy, running as many as 15 brands in the
world market. Cannibalization is a particular problem of a multi-brands
strategy approach, in which the new brand takes business away from an
established one which the organization also owns. This may be acceptable
(indeed to be expected) if there is a net gain overall. Geographically
speaking, the market for large department store such as Puma is mainly
concentrated in large shopping centers or downtown. In a large shopping
center or downtown shopping district, the market is strong, with good

profit potential. Department stores positioned as premium are hard to

imitate and start because they are built on the prestige of the brand.

Second most important branding strategies PUMA has

undertaken is they are attentive watcher over supply channels.
PUMA sell their customers any kind of service or product always have a
message about why their offerings are the right option to meet their clients
needs and help them solve the problems that they are suffering from. This
message is an important part of brand management, because it is delivered
by all areas of the company that interact with customers in any capacity,
from the sales team to their customer service reps to the transportation
professionals. If the brand management message does not match the
actions taken by companys supply chain department, it can deal a
significant blow to the brand management policy, since observers will
consider the company unable to deliver on what it says it will do. For this
reason, it is important that supply chain management professionals are
aware of companys outward policies relating to brand management and
how their actions need to abide by these messages so that your company
has a positive perception.
Although most people commonly think about customer perception when it
comes to brand management, a large part of a companys brand is based
around the relationships that they have with their supply partners. PUMA
is committed to strong relationships with effective supply partners which
matches much more successful in their efforts to improve the perception of
their brand, which is an important element of brand management. This
success is possible because of the positive correlation between productive
supply partner relationships and an ability to fulfill the main goals of a

companys mission. PUMA is able to improve their suppliers partnerships

which allows them to receive more benefits to gain and boost the creative
position, as the supply chain areas are concerned it will really perform
better. Another branding stagey to me is that they have sloid guidance &
strict attentiveness for licensee.

Strength Position of PUMA in the Market

The first strength of Puma is that of its store positioning within a shopping
environment. Puma is a market leader in Australian retailing industry and
is also is the largest department store chain in Australia. Another strength
of Puma is their strong brand identity with consumers. Puma customers
think of them as an upper class department store, which sells high quality
products. This is the image that Puma is successfully projecting to their
consumers, and is precisely why Pumas' target market is the middle-upper
social classes.
Product quality and range is also a major strength of Puma. The company
has built up a wide range of well-known and prestigious brands. For
instance, the ground floor of Puma sells most well-known brands of
perfume such as Gucci, and YSL etc.
Another strength of Puma lies within their strong customer relationship
marketing techniques. There are special benefits available to customers
who hold a Smarter Shopping Card that gives customers great features and
exclusive benefits at favorite Coles Puma stores; such as Puma, Grace Bros,

Target, Kmart and Megawatt. The exclusive benefits include special interest
free promotions, up to 62 days interest free. No annual or joining fees,
flexible payment options, online account management and interest rates
from as low as 15.5%.
Customer service is a principal strength of the company, which is carried
through to its well-known product strategy and Pumas' store image. Puma's
uphold this strong moral custom with its staff and is an attribute that the
company carries through to its promotions, helping to establish warm,
personal brand association.

Brand Management Practices

Identify and discuss two major attributes of a Brand

(according to David Aaker) Employed by PUMA.
David Aaker: I think if I am not wrong, nobody know brand strategy better
than Mr. David. Aaker has taken all of the essential principles of branding
and collapsed them into one epic brand book. Whether youre a seasoned
brand marketer or just getting started, this book will provide you with a
practical path to creating, nurturing and leveraging strong brands.

Mr. David Aaker is the consultant &author of various famous books of

marketing, his work in marketing is adorable especially in brand strategies.
Presently he is the VC of Prophet and well-known international consultancy
firm. It is based in USA California. He has provided various attributes of
Brands like Brand Awareness and Equity Brands.

Brand Awareness
The extent to which a brand is recognized by potential customers, and is
correctly associated with a particular product. Expressed usually as a
percentage of target market, brand awareness is the primary goal of
advertising in the early months or years of a product's introduction.
In recent years, the Puma brand has become synonymous with fashion,
style, and sport. Through fresh design, co-branding and partnerships with
celebrities and amours designers, Puma has elevated their brand image
so that it now competes with fashion brands as well as their traditional
rivals in the sporting footwear industry. The Puma brand communication
strategy is flexible across multiple categories, yet communicates innovation
or an active lifestyle. Puma communicates with each category in a unique
manner, but the tone is unmistakingly tied back to the overall brand
through the overarching brand personality and identity. To extend
their brand Puma has created concept retail stores that enable people to
experience the brand in engaging and compelling ways. Puma also engages
customers through their Mongolian barbeque concept that enables

customers to design and build their own outwear from scratch. Further did
eventuating the brand from traditional rivals, Puma frequently hosts
promotional events that are based around active lifestyle themes based
on dining, entertainment, fashion, and music.

Brand Equity
The world constantly changes and disparities, however, some top brands
seem to keep their leadership position in their industry to this day. Strong
brands are amazingly durable and have the ultimate ability to overcome
many challenges. Either does Puma. This phrase describes the value of
having a well-known brand name, based on the idea that the owner of a
well-known brand name can generate more money from products with that
brand name than from products with a less well-known name. Having and
holding customers is likely to be a competitive battle which each brand
tries all efforts to win. They compete for functional attributes, distinctive
services or innovative technologies (Aaker, 1991).

Placed at 97th, Puma brand appeared at the first time on the interbred
annual report. Interbred analysts gave the positive compliments for Puma's
effort to compete against the big rivals. Through new design, co-branding
and partnerships with celebrities and famous designers such as Alexander
McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, Puma refreshes their brand image. The
company defines its brand as the mixes of sport, lifestyle and fashion to
increase its desirability (Puma report, 2009). The Puma brand
differentiates itself from Nike by communicating "lifestyle driven style"
with "active lifestyle" themes whereas Nike focusing on "performance
driven style".

Since PUMA was set up by someone who has "a deep passion for athletics
and running", it should come no surprise that product is important.
Products that are comfortable, "authentic, functionally innovative and
uniquely designed" (PUMA report, 1984). The innovative technology is
considered as one of the defining dimensions of Puma's brand identity and
corporate culture.
The simple driving concept has led to some impressive innovations which
is considered as one of the defining dimensions of Puma's brand identity
and corporate culture. The first highlight was Air cushioning, using
pressurized gas to cushion impact and new materials such as Urathane,
that was used first with the Air Max running shoes (Puma's report, 1989).
More recently, to obtain maximum performance, Puma Sport Research
laboratory has discovered the innovative technology such as Shox, which
are made mostly of rubber and "spring back adding more power to a
runner's stride" and Total 90 Concept, a range of equipment to help players
perform over 90 minutes of a soccer match (Keller, 2008)
Clearly, functional benefit is the fundamental and classical features to
communicate with customers. However, if Puma just provided high quality
running shoes to enhance athletic performance", Puma would not be strong
brands. According to Aakers (1991), big brands need to be beyond the
purely functional relationships. They should create a more strong
emotional attachment with core consumers because "emotional benefits
add richness and depth to the brand and the experience of owning and
using the brand"

Strength of Puma
Puma launched new collections which blended with sports, lifestyle and
fashion for example puma curato shoes, unala cropped woven womens
ware which are very sport fashionable and trendy, such causal sportswear
became like very day kind of wear for certain age group for example the
young starts who identified themselves with puma logo and style, this made
it easy for puma to target and reach the right market as at the right time as
puma knew its market and customers well Innovations -puma carried
innovations at each part of the process for example puma worked with
engineering teams of Jordan grand prix Racing to learn about new
materials like carbon fire which are then built into pumas shoes like
shudou shoes, this innovation enabled Puma to produced high quality
sportswear that were so desirable that puma gain a lot more customer that
puma became looked upon as a trend starter in the footwear market for
other companies like Nike and Adidas as follow

PUMA is very competitive organization.

Financial growth is phenomenal.

More diversified from its competition.

Wide array of shoe-wear.

Strategy acquisition with reputed companies.

Brand stands for quality, latest technology and prestige.

Global Brand.

PUMA top management is highly marketing oriented and

most of the key personnel come from marketing background. This

is strength in this business because industry is market driven

instead of product driven.
Market Description
The sports wear industry in India has a very close working
relationship with the sportsmen which are the midst of a major
transformation. In Indian market Puma is present from many
years and a good brand image to the Indian. A convergence of
the user, developer and producer has provided Indian with the
regions most sophisticated sportswear sector.
In the Indian market athletic sportswear began to evolve from a
product line aimed at small and unique market into a main stream
fashion product. The clear divisions between performance and
fashion function and style formal and informal that once existed
have became increangisly blurred. The acceptability of casual
dress on more occasion parallel the way for sportswear to move
into the mainstream clothing market. The trained was
accomplished by a real increase in sports participation.
The sportswear market in India is well established as well as
booming. The demand for sportswear is ever increasing.
Customer Insight Product Categories :
Athletic footwear exercise, baseball, basketball, running, track
& field.
Apparel tracksuits, football strips, and similar sportswear.
Accessories sports luggage, footballs, and gloves.

Competitor Profile : Although Puma has labeled B brands

because in terms of their market share, they form a second rung
of manufacturers in the sportswear industries just below the
market leader or the so called A brands like Nike, Reebok and
Adidas. So the main competitors for Puma are 1.Nike 2.Adidas
3.Reebok 4.New Balance As mentioned above other sports
apparel brands almost dominate the market not just in Singapore
but elsewhere as well. Puma is one of the poorly marketed
products in Singapore which results in low market share. It is very
less popular as compared to other strong competitors. The
market shares of these competitors along with the market share
of Puma are as follows:
Market share of all sports apparel brands: (Company) (Market
share) Nike 43.2% Adidas 18.03% Reebok 10.9% New balance
9.4% Kappa 1.0% Umbro 1.0% Others 16.47% Competitive
analysis in terms of SWOT analysis: Almost all the sports apparel
brands have strong brand recognition. They all have a wide range
of products. These companies are well established not just in
Singapore but elsewhere as well. They are all geographically well
diversified which has a strong brand recognition. Almost all these
brands have good relationships in the form of bonds with sports
clubs, athletic teams, international sponsorships, good
endorsements across the world which help them to be recognized
as a global brand.

Points of parity(POPs)

Puma and Adidas,Nike or Under Armour are amongst the worlds

most popular athletic clothing and equipment brands operating in
the same competitive market. They are associated with famous
athletes, everyday people sporting either with Nikes swoosh or
Adidas three stripes .
One of Adidas biggest move in order to compete with Nike has been
to merge with Reebok for a 3.8 billion dollar deal.
Each sells the same style products for enhanced performance, but
they also create different campaigns that they hope will attract and
pull market consumers to their brand. In order to compare them we
have to take an extensive look at their points of parity and points of
difference.
As Nike and Adidas or Under Armour are all athletic wear companies
there exists a lot of parity points , one in particular being their
individual electronic performance technology allowing you to
measure and compare your performance during training.
Nike has developed the Nike+ products line that in cooperation with
Apple, allows runners to track their distance, pace, calories burned,
and heart rate and send them online to compare performances and
set new goals. Similarly Adidas has the miCoach Pacer that like
Nike+ tracks pace, heart rate, and stride and under armour is
selling performance measuring devices such as watches

All brands have ambassadors representing the brand in the sports and
worldwide

POINT OF DIFFERENCE(PODs)
In terms of points of difference each brand are running campaigns that
are unique to them.
Nike has created the NikeiD series where you can customize your own
shoes and gear. Therefore appealing to customers who like to create their
own style and unique identity.
In addition the brand has a much more casual-friendly product line that
allows people to wear nike-branded products in their everdyday life
outside of sporting activities.
So much that Jordan product-line has become a brand itself within the
brand with its own logo easily recognizable

Puma : Puts much more focus on Motorsports where the others are nonexistent and is associated with several car manufactors, pilots or racing
teams.

All African teams that participated to the 2014 FIFA World Cup were
sponsorized by Puma which traditionnaly has the largest sportswear
presence on the continent and its main ambassadors are two black
athletes : Usain Bolt and Mario Balotelli.

Adidas for its part currently offers products that are geared essentially
towards football, tennis and general athletics markets : a much less
varied line-up of products compared to Nike for exemple which has
tremendous presence in basketball, running shoes, cross-training etc

Under Armour is essentially about high-tech, innovative and performance

oriented athletic and fitness gears. The brand is trying to diversify its
portfolio and appeal to greater masses with football and other popular
sports and the female customers which are still lacking behind by
recruiting new female ambassadors such as Gisele Bundchen

QUESTIONNAIRE

PERSONAL PROFILE
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

NAME
AGE
ADDRESS
TELEPHONE
OCCUPATION

VI.

FAMILY INCOME (RS. Per month)

:
:
:
:

5000-10000
10000-15000
15000-20000
20000 & above

1. Which type of shoes do you like to wear?

Formal

Sports

Casual

Any Other

2. Do you wear Branded Shoes?

Yes

No

Indifferent
3. Are you Aware about the following Brands of Shoes?
Puma
Adidas
Nike
Reebok
Any Other

4. Which Brand does you like the most?

Puma

Adidas

Nike

Reebok

Any Other

5.Can you recognize the logo of Puma shoes?

i)Yes
ii)No

6.What comes to your mind when you hear about puma

branded shoes?
i)Quality
ii) Style/design
iii) price
iv) Brand image

7.How do you get aware about this puma Brand?

Advertisement
Sales Persons
Friends
Exclusive Showrooms
Any Other

8.From where do you like to purchase your puma

Branded shoes?
Departmental Stores
Ordinary Showrooms
Exclusive showrooms
Online stores

9.Do you think advertisement effect your purchasing

decision?

Yes
No
10.How often do you buy branded shoes?
Once a Year

Twice a Year

Thrice a Year

Seasonally

Special occasion

any other

11. Where is any increase in price of puma brand, is that

effect your purchase decision?

Yes

No

Indifferent

12. Would you like to buy another brand if all the are Available

in other brand?
Yes

No

Perpectual map
HIGH

Nike

Adidas
Reebok
Sports Utility

LOW
PRICE
HIGH

PUma