JWT New York is Puma's global lead creative agency

The agency will work on a global campaign to promote Puma's new 'Forever Faster' brand statement.

Sports company Puma has appointed JWT New York as its global lead creative agency, effective immediately. This means, JWT will assume a leadership position over all of Puma's global advertising across North America, Europe, Latin America, APAC and West Asia/Africa.

While the account will be handled by JWT New York, the agency's offices across the globe will contribute with relevant regional insights and will work on localising the campaign to better suit the sensibilities of consumers in their respective geographies.

Regarding the implications of the development for JWT India, afaqs! learns that the creative duties of Puma India will not be handled by JWT India. "In India, Puma doesn't have a creative agency; they conceptualise in-house," said the communications authority who alerted the media to this global development.

Incorporated in 2005, Puma India has steered clear of mainstream media platforms to advertise its products. In a previous story on afaqs!, Puma India's spokesperson was quoted saying, "We don't believe in the in-your-face approach as seen in India, across all mediums of communication."

Over the last three months, Puma has developed a new brand platform called 'Forever Faster', a term reflective of the brand's 65-year history of designing products for the fastest athletes in the world. JWT will work with Puma to develop a campaign poised to capitalise on culturally relevant sporting moments. For the agency, work will begin right away. Consumers will be exposed to this new tagline in 2014. A global brand campaign will be launched in the second half of the year.

Björn Gulden, CEO, Puma, says, "In JWT, we have found an agile agency with global reach that understands the Puma brand and culture. The team quickly proved that they could deliver on our new mission to become the 'fastest sports brand in the world'. Together, we'll craft a more nimble creative structure that will allow us to support all of the company's sporting and lifestyle categories with a single consumer message and streamlined creative concept across territories."

Peter Sherman, CEO, JWT New York, says, "Puma is more than an advertising relationship for us; it's a true brand and business partnership. It will be a privilege to work with this team."

JWT, one the leading globally networked agencies, is headquartered at New York. Among JWT New York's account wins over the past three months are names such as Energizer (the brand has consolidated its advertising duties with JWT New York) and Google (the agency was awarded a creative assignment by the brand).

Recently, Puma India was in the news for launching a co-branded digital campaign with e-commerce player Jabong.com. Featuring brand ambassador actor Chitrangada Singh, the campaign involved an interactive video on fitness routines. Titled 'Chitrangada Singh's Gear Up Buddies', the campaign was created by digital creative agency Brandmovers.