Usain Bolt said he is desperate to play a role in reviving the sport that made him a global superstar but has experienced something of a decline since his retirement six years ago.
Source: Usain Bolt desperate for impactful role in track and field | CNN
According to CNN, Usain Bolt wants to make an impact on track and field beyond what he accomplished from the starter’s blocks. While he is looking for an opportunity to work with the World Athletics Track and Field Organization, I see an opportunity for Puma to bolster their running category under a new regime. I’ve discussed in the past that Puma underutilized Bolt.
Is Puma’s One Page for Usain Bolt Representative of the Decline in Athlete Sponsorship Value?
In the above article I wrote:
Bolt’s exit from track and field leaves the sport without a superstar in the men’s field. If the sports world and marketing still adhered to the way athletic footwear grew in the 80s and 90s, Bolt should have made Puma an immensely popular brand. That didn’t happen. Now Bolt is gone; and Puma hasn’t dedicated the site to his career. They haven’t created a celebration of Bolt with a sportswear pack of some type. There is one, lone, click through page with barely a scroll for the greatest track and field athlete ever.
Maybe this is the reality of sports and footwear now. Athletes are not as important as they once wore in this age of immediate gratification; or maybe I’m just reacting too early and Puma is planning something big, which won’t move the masses because it’s not Fenty.
Puma’s recent growth and the change in leadership appears to be placing an emphasis on performance as well as fashion (the brand recently announced a new partnership with Fenty). Their partnerships with WNBA and NBA players allow for a dialogue with a new generation of hoopers, but I’ve stated in recent articles the opportunities which lie in track and field are unlimited and have more potential. Puma has the most impressive roster of explosive athletes and campaigns and media around those superstars should be on YouTube and events sponsored with those athletes at a grassroots level could be groundbreaking.
There are countless posts on this site about various signings by Puma over the last two years, but there is very little fanfare around the sport in the U.S. I’ve written that it’s understandable as track and field is a difficult sport to present in live viewership. The distance events are not contained in one place. Marathons aren’t exactly exciting, and sprints are only 10-60 seconds long. However, adidas recently showed how effective a coordinated event can be. Their recent Atlanta City Games was a revelation and a controlled media opportunity for the brand to highlight the sport, their athletes and they interspersed the event with their own ads:
adidas has unfortunately failed to do the smart thing with the content and this is something Puma can learn from. Usain Bolt remains the most amazing athlete in the history of the sport, and he wants to give and work to bring more excitement to the event. Puma is rolling out their new NITRO running shoes. Running is being disrupted by smaller brands accomplishing amazing things. HOKA, On Running and Brooks are making incredible strides. It’s difficult to pull together events at the professional level, but a grassroots program led by Usain Bolt (make him a board member or the head of a new PUMA running and event branch) and begin to implement a plan of action. The brand has everything in their lap and if they are smart, they launch a media arm. The American Track League is already sponsored, but that company has incorrectly chosen to place their events behind a paywall on Vimeo severely diminishing the reach of the product. Usain wants back in, but it shouldn’t be with the WTO, it should be a Puma project and it should be rolled out immediately.
Puma is Doing the Work but the Holes are Frustrating: American Track League | Party Faster