NEW YORK — Puma is infusing a fashion message into its fall ads, which mark a departure from past lifestyle campaigns.
The German athletic company enlisted fashion photographer Sølve Sundsbø to shoot its “I’m Going” ads.
“We wanted to show a more sophisticated and inspirational look with this campaign,” said Antonio Bertone, global director of brand management for Puma. “How Puma perceives fashion is what makes us unique. There is that sport-lifestyle element that is inherent to Puma.”
The nine print images, featuring Yugoslavian model Natasa Vojnovic, combine the brand’s performance sport, lifestyle, sport fashion ranges and new denim collections, incorporating the lines into complete looks.
“In the ‘I’m Going’ campaign, we are thinking brand-wise and mixing different categories and levels of product,” Bertone said. “Instead of being so compartmentalized, we are able to style within our own brand.”
Shot in a studio, Sundsbø’s photos reflect the athletic brand’s bodies-in-motion “I’m Going” concept with acrobatic poses, lighting and water. He shot the water images in multiple frames and layered them to create the impression they are frozen in time.
Puma is coming off a strong performance at the World Cup, where it sponsored the victorious Italian team. The company expected a 40 percent boost in soccer wear sales for the first six months of this year.
The fall ads will debut in the September issues of Interview and Vogue, and will later run in W, Lucky, Elle, In Style and Nylon. (Like WWD, Vogue, Lucky and W are owned by Condé Nast Publications.)
Bertone would not disclose the ad budget for fall, but said it was “our first female-heavy campaign, with over half of the U.S. media targeted to female consumers.”