With its latest global campaign, Puma aims to engage a new generation of consumers by tapping into the emotional and social aspects of athletics.

• “Go Wild” marks Puma’s biggest marketing investment to date, driving a 40% YoY increase in the brand’s marketing spend.
• The campaign taps into the “human instinct we can feel when playing sport” and urges consumers to “unleash their wild energy” through sports, per a release.
• “We believe that it’s not just hard work that leads to excellence,” said Richard Teyssier, global vice president of brand and marketing at Puma. “There’s a human behind the athlete and they need to enjoy what they do to do it well.”

The campaign kicked off last week with a 60-second video spot dedicated to the runner’s high, a rush of happy chemicals released during physical activity.

• Instead of featuring athletes and celebrities, the spot celebrates the everyday runner, including early-rising runners, a runner with their dog, a new mom, or running as a community.
• “Sometimes it’s difficult to go for a run, because you need to make the decision to go. Sometimes you have other things on your plate, but you still make time for a run because it makes you feel good,” said Teyssier.

The “Go Wild” campaign was borne from an internal exercise to redefine Puma’s market segmentation.

• The company conducted a massive survey of over 10,000 consumers worldwide in key countries, using the data to qualify and quantify its audience segments.
• Two key segments emerged—“inspiring self-expressers” and “convivial belongers”—which became the target audience for the first phase of “Go Wild.”

Photo credit: Puma

The campaign will be executed globally across multiple channels, including digital, out-of-home, social, TV, and retail locations. But the media mix will be tailored specifically to fit each region. The goal is getting 75% of Puma’s target audience in key countries to see the video at least twice, said Teyssier.

• Campaign pre-tests in the US and Germany ranked in the top 15% of the most effective ads in driving sales and in the top 1% for the predicted long-term market share growth, according to Puma.

And while the “Go Wild” video doesn’t feature celebrities, Puma plans to amplify the campaign with its roster of athlete ambassadors, including Olympians Tommie Smith and Usain Bolt.

• The campaign’s through-line will remain the same—cultivating joy and self-expression through sport and community.
• “We’re giving our ambassadors the opportunity to tell their own story and show how being themselves has led to performance excellence and happiness,” said Teyssier.

The “Go Wild” campaign will expand into other sports over the next two years, starting with basketball in fall 2025 and soccer in 2026.

But even beyond that, this campaign represents a new brand positioning for Puma, both externally and internally.

“This will be an inspiration for everything we do now, including the way we communicate and the way we think about products, as well,” said Teyssier. “It’s also going to be an internal cultural mantra, because we believe our employees need to express their differences. We truly believe in inclusivity and in the richness of being different and embracing those differences.”

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