The Big Interview – Christian Voigt

Christian Voigt, senior head of global sports marketing at Puma, speaks to sportindustry.biz about the company’s brand, plans and new deals with Borussia Dortmund and Yaya Toure.

The new deal with Borussia Dortmund seems to have got people at Puma excited.

Yes, we’re pretty pumped! We didn’t only have the press conference with the president and the marketing director announcing the partnership – and our CEO, which shows the kind of focus we’re giving to them – we also got a sneak preview on the new kit for next year. That’s when the press were gone! And it looks good – I’m looking forward to next July, when we start this long partnership.

With a deal like this that starts some distance in the future, what can you do now?

We have to respect that there is still a partner in place right now, so we can only work in the background. All the product is actually basically done, and so we can get the machine going in the background, plan out the marketing and map out how we want it to go when we show it to the public for the first time. We’re talking to players, and we have some recent signings there who are pretty exciting – we’ve got [Roman] Weidenfeller, their keeper, and [Lucas] Barrios, one of the top strikers in the Bundesliga, so there’s things in the background. We already equip them with footwear this year, so there is stuff going on and a lot of preparation in the background.

How does the deal fit in with the overall strategy at Puma?

The ‘Back on the Attack’ plan for sports marketing means we are refocusing on our strong roots in sport. Not only do we have a solid history with top players – Maradona, Cruyff, Eusebio, Matthaus – we’ve had all the leading players in the past and now it was time to reinforce that.

For some time there was a lot of focus on the lifestyle, but our CEO was saying today that we want to distinguish the two a bit more strongly. Our sports marketing strategy is to have the really top-performing clubs and players, like Cesc Fabregas at Barcelona and Sergio Aguero and now Yaya Toure at Manchester City, we are putting a strong focus on it – especially on football. Football is what we have been doing for the last 63 years, and I think we have to be a bit louder again. This is just the start of it.

What’s the ultimate goal in aligning the Puma brand?

For us, I guess, it’s the same as the others. We want to have the number one guy. I think we show that on the motorsport side with Ferrari, with the fastest runner in the world in Usain Bolt, and with teams who are national champions, as Dortmund were last season. And so that’s a key goal – that credibility is the basis. It gives you the visibility for the consumer and that’s when the retailer takes you seriously. But we still have a Puma way, and I think the difference is how we get there.

When we select our assets we look for a strong brand fit. We make sure the player is happy having a partner like Puma – we look on the stylish side, we want to have fun. I was personally involved in meeting these players and I was excited because they fit perfectly. They’re fun guys, they’re positive, and they aren’t all only about sweat and tears. They are going to be part of our marketing and communication, so it’s a bit more fun for both sides if we are all on the same page.

What are the key things that you look for when selecting a player or a team?

It boils down to three things: visibility, credibility and desirability. Visibility of players, clubs, national teams in the major championships and being able to take advantage is obviously a key thing. But you need a level of investment and a deepness of your portfolio to be credible, so the consumer really perceives you as a serious sport brand. In terms of desirability it’s the product they use. We select the players very carefully to expose our products in the right place. When a professional scores goals in your boots, you’re cheering!

What do you want from Borussia Dortmund for this partnership to work? A team can’t guarantee winning the title, but what can they guarantee?

To stay as they are. Their brand is honest, real and straightforward. They are ambitious and passionate. If they stay like that – and it’s their brand message so they plan to stay like that – then that’s a great thing for us. If they win the championship that’s great, but we can’t expect that. But we can look forward to building something together – if they continue in their open and passionate way, we’re going to have some great fun together.

With someone like Yaya Toure, who Puma have just signed, the money is no longer an issue – a player at that level doesn’t need endorsement money to pay the bills. What makes him choose Puma? Is the biggest cheque still a factor?

There is some of that left – I want to be honest. You talk to some agents who only want to talk about money, but those conversations usually don’t take very long. With Yaya, it really is about the broader partnership. We are working with him on his supporting underprivileged children [Puma’s commitment to the deal is to distribute kit to underprivileged children in west Africa] – we give them boots, balls and apparel to play with, and that’s part of what both we and he like to do. He shares our brand vision. And he’s also a fun guy, so he fits with us on the basis of joy. Does he really need our money? Probably not. For him it’s more important to have the right kind of partner. And I honestly think that applies for a lot of our partnerships.