Puma pins Olympic hopes on Bolt to speed sport sales
With the London Olympic games just days away, German sportswear giant
Puma is pinning its hopes on sprint legend Usain Bolt to speed up sales
and outpace its bigger competitors Adidas and Nike.
Bolt, the world's fastest man who blew away his rivals to win three
gold medals in Beijing four years ago, is also a key plank in the firm's
strategy to shift its focus from lifestyle clothing to sportswear.
Sportswear currently accounts for 35 percent of Puma sales but the
firm's boss Franz Koch wants to boost that to 40 percent and the company
sees its sponsorship of double world-record holder Bolt as key to that
aim. "We are keen to underline that we are strong in both sectors,
lifestyle and performance," Puma's head of international sports
marketing, Christian Voigt, told AFP. Who better than the charismatic
Bolt and the Jamaican team, also sponsored by Puma, to push the firm's
dual-track strategy? "Usain Bolt and the Jamaican team allow us to build
a bridge between lifestyle and performance, a bridge they built
themselves," said Voigt.
AFP |