PUMA Launches The Nature of Performance in 2013

HERZOGENAURACH, Germany, February 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

PUMA Celebrates A Year Of Innovation With Groundbreaking Performance Product Introductions & New Campaign Launch

2013 signals a pioneering year for PUMA, as the global sportlifestyle brand re-energizes its performance positioning through the introduction of a new cross-category performance platform - The Nature of Performance.  The Nature of Performance underpins a new creative and marketing campaign, in addition to serving as the inspiration for a collection of innovative new products in the Football, Running, Training and Fitness categories.

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PUMA's Nature of Performance platform is a red thread that unifies all of PUMA's performance categories with a consistent voice, look and feel. Grounded in nature and the athlete's innate desire to perform at their best level, The Nature of Performance takes us on a journey that is at once personal and universal.  Through it, we come to understand certain campaign insights:

• The Nature of PUMA Football: Whether it's in your nature to be power hungry, a glutton for speed or a control freak, PUMA builds inspired products to amplify you and your team's instincts.
• The Nature of PUMA Running: It's in our nature to disrupt the monotony of running. It's making a routine run feel fresh again, and it's in our nature to get you out the door.

Similar insights have been developed for PUMA Golf, PUMA Training, PUMA Fitness and PUMA Ecosphere and will feature in the creative executions for each.

Created in collaboration with advertising partner Droga5, the Nature of Performance campaign for ATL and BTL features the product as hero in each treatment, with a minimalist deconstructed "set" using a simple gray background, exposed staging and technical features, and athletes in motion showcasing the 'epic moment' of athletics.  Stylistically new for PUMA, the Nature of Performance creative is designed to evoke a visceral reaction and tap into our nature as performance athletes.

PUMA also partnered with video production house Juliet Zulu to develop a series of technical films and TVCs for The Nature of Performance that will roll out online, by category, beginning in February 2013.

"With The Nature of Performance, we've found our own unique voice within the performance space," said Filip Trulsson, Director of International Marketing at PUMA SE.  "The platform works across all of our sport categories and offers a compelling and effective way to convey pinnacle performance PUMA products and the user experiences at its most natural state."

The Nature of Performance platform launch coincides with a series of innovative new product introductions in Spring/Summer 2013, including ground-breaking footwear and apparel styles for Running and Training.  

PUMA Mobium Elite is a first generation PUMA Adaptive Running™ shoe that's built on a system of interdependent technologies that are proprietary to PUMA.  The patent-pending technologies of the Mobium Bands, the Windlass Chassis and the Expansion Pods work together allowing the shoe to expand and contract as the foot naturally does through the gait cycle. PUMA has identified this new category of running - Adaptive Running - after two years of intense biomechanical research, development and testing. PUMA Mobium Elite encourages a more natural movement and efficient stride.

Grounded in the principle of athletic taping in which strips of fabric are placed directly onto an athlete's skin in specific patterns, PUMA's latest range of training tights, shorts and tops goes one step further with PUMA tape built directly into the garments.  During workouts, the innovative garments are designed to work with the body, helping maximize muscle power. PUMA ACTV fuses the benefits of compression technology with athletic taping in order to create an easy-to-use performance offering.  With PUMA ACTV, elasticized silicone tape strategically placed on the inside of the garments mimics an athlete's muscle patterns and provides micro-massage in specific areas. PUMA ACTV has this week been given the sports industry quality seal and has been awarded the ISPO Gold Award in the performance segment Compression Apparel category.

PUMA RCVR is designed to help maximize recovery post workout.  PUMA RCVR fuses the recovery benefits of targeted advanced compression with athletic taping to help work with the body's natural systems and support the most fatigued muscles.  

Together, PUMA Mobium, PUMA ACTV and PUMA RCVR offer a window into the next generation of performance products and serve as statement pieces within the overall Nature of Performance platform.

In addition to innovative new product introductions, PUMA is also introducing for 2013 a unique naming and labeling concept designed to make it easy for consumers to identify which products best fit their performance needs.  The PUMA CELL system consists of 14 CELL names, each of which corresponds to a specific key performance benefit - dryCELL for moisture management, visiCELL for increased visibility and powerCELL for compression, to name a few.  PUMA CELL is a proprietary system the brand has developed to ensure product benefits are clearly communicated and identifiable to the consumer.

For more information on PUMA's Nature of Performance and all of the product and campaign details, visit http://www.puma.com . The full media tool kit including images and B-Roll can be downloaded from http://www.thenewsmarket.com/puma .

Media Contact:

Sara Gottman, Head of International PR, PUMA SE
Email: sara.gottman@puma.com
Mobile: +1-978-996-4441  Office: +1-617-488-2981