On July 26, 2024, the 33rd Summer Olympic Games will open in Paris, France. As the time approached, the atmosphere of the Olympics became more and more intense in Paris.
On April 10, more than 100 days before the Olympic Games, the world's leading sports brand PUMA officially launched its first brand renewal in a decade, "FOREVER. FASTER. - Heroes See the Difference" project, and I am also honored to be a part of this event.
The content of the entire conference was aimed at emphasizing the concept of PUMA's positioning as the world's fastest sports brand.
“FOREVER. FASTER. - Heroes see differently", friends who are familiar with PUMA may be familiar with it, yes, in the marketing promotion of the World Series in the past ten years, or in the brand's product promotion, PUMA has been constantly expressing the deep relationship between speed and brand.
2024 is a big year for sports, with the Olympic Games and the European Championships, and PUMA wants to further strengthen this concept this year and apply it to all sports categories, including the key subdivisions of football, running and basketball.
As Richard Teyssier, Vice President of Brand Marketing – this is PUMA's largest ever marketing investment – and the first time PUMA has delivered a single brand message throughout the year and across all sports categories such as football, running, basketball and handball – FOREVER. FASTER.。
PUMA showed a video of the main brand and a number of creative materials, showcasing the top athletes of many brands, such as footballer Neymar, basketball player LaMelo Ball, track and field athletes Carsten Warholm, Mondo Duplantis and many more.
Of course, there were more surprises than that, in addition to the new brand refresh, PUMA also unveiled a number of track and field apparel and shoes on the spot, among which the two most shocking were the concept shoe PUMA Fast-RB and the track spike shoe PUMA Berserker.
In 2020, the World Athletics Federation issued new rules for running shoes, stipulating that the thickness of the sole must not exceed 40 mm, and no more than one insert plate, otherwise it is considered a violation, and the shoe must be sold in the open retail market (online or in physical stores) for at least four months before it can be used in competitions.
Subsequently, this rule has been supplemented, adjusted and improved, but the overall requirements of 40mm and one carbon plate remain unchanged.
Over the past few years, we've seen a lot of innovations, such as the introduction of a 50mm carbon plate running shoe or a subversive innovation in the midsole of a shoe, but this is the first time that a running shoe has been shocking, like the PUMA Fast-RB.
With a 60mm high sole and a three-layer midsole structure and inset design, just like its name, RB, Rules Breaker, of course, it definitely does not meet the World Athletics Federation competition shoe regulations, and the results created by it will not be recognized. But as the PUMA shoe design team puts it: "We created to learn how to shape different boards and how to react well to each other." In many cases, you can only learn more by breaking the rules and apply them to the design of compliant shoe products. ”
Based on the concept shoe PUMA Fast-RB, PUMA also brought a shoe that meets the regulations of the World Athletics Federation, that is, the Puma Fast-R 2. The PUMA team also said that the success of the Puma Fast-R 2 was due to the lessons learned by the team in designing the PUMA Fast-RB.
Another exciting product comes from PUMA's 400m hurdles world record holder Carsten Warholm, the PUMA Berserker. Back in the run-up to the last Olympic cycle, the Tokyo Olympics, PUMA also released the brand's fastest and most powerful track spikes.
PUMA was a team with the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team to apply its engineering know-how from Formula 1 racing cars to the newly designed EVOSPEED TOKYO FUTURE FASTER+ AND EVOSPEED TOKYO FUTURE NITRO FASTER+.
The shoes were worn by track and field athletes, including Norwegian hurdler and world record holder and world and European champion Carsten Walholm, and Canadian sprinter and Olympic silver medallist André De Grasse.
And this time, it's the same Carsten Walholm, and the shoes have been updated to PUMA Berserker. When it comes to this latest super spike, Carsten Walholm uses a lot of tops. The fastest and most radical performance he wears, he describes as a work of art.
The greatness of Valholm needs no more words. He had an impressive record in the 400-meter hurdles event. He won three gold medals at the 2017, 2019 and 2023 World Championships, twice in the Diamond League in 2019 and 2021, and in 2021 he broke the 400m hurdles world record twice and took it to a height of 45.94 seconds.
We had the opportunity to speak to the Olympic champion on the spot, and the central question was whether we will witness a new record in Paris? Valholm spoke to us about the difficulty of setting a world record, saying: "When you're at the starting line, if your focus is on the world record, it's a bigger challenge. I wouldn't say no to a world record, but at the same time I know it's not easy. ”
In the history of the 400m hurdles, only one athlete has won consecutive gold medals in the event, and that is Glenn Davis of the United States, who won gold medals in the 400m hurdles at two consecutive Olympic Games in 1956 and 1960. If Valholm achieves the 400m hurdles title in Paris, he will be only the second athlete in history to do so.
Will we be able to see him soar in PUMA Berserker at this year's Paris Olympics, just like he did at the National Stadium in Tokyo three years ago, and we'll see what happens.
Similarly, Armand Duplantis has already enjoyed the highlights of his life at a young age: he broke the men's pole vault indoor world record twice in 2020, won the gold medal in the men's pole vault at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 with a score of 6.02m, broke the men's pole vault world record three times in 2022 and won his first gold medal in the men's pole vault at the World Athletics Championships, and won the World Athletics Championships in 2023. The gold medal in the men's pole vault at the World Athletics Diamond League Finals broke the world record in the men's pole vault held by an individual.
At the scene, he shared his experience of the competition and his expectations for the future. He believes that patience is very important, and that the game is more like a psychological battle, and that a good attitude can motivate people to keep improving. "In the last few years, especially after the last Olympics, I've been able to put my heart and soul into all the competitions, I've become more free and calmer because I've done a lot of things that I've dreamed of in my life," he said. ”
The addition of multiple halos on his body did not bring him more pressure, but was more calm, and the next game was more like an icing on the cake. In fact, when you start to relax your mind, I believe that success is not far away.
It can be seen that the heroes see differently, but the goal is clear, the competition for speed is being staged, speed is PUMA's superpower, and everyone's athletic performance and winning potential are stimulated.
At the end of the PUMA brand refresh launch, PUMA played a promotional video featuring the highlights of the brand's elite athletes.
As the film ended, the four Olympic champions, Carsten Warholm, Mondo Duplantis, Yaroslava Mahuchik and Barshim, walked out and showed PUMA's Paris Olympic equipment in person.
The overall message delivered by PUMA was emotional, unique, and resonated with everyone.
The Paris 2024 story belonging to PUMA kicks off with a prelude.