Nowadays, it is customary for apparel companies that produce
kits for big time football teams to create a whole launch campaign around the unveiling of
the next season’s upcoming uniforms.
Shirt sales are a lucrative business, especially since fans stretch across
the globe, so it’s important that you grab their attention and then fulfill expectations with an attractive kit.
The German company, Puma, took over Borussia Dortmund’s kit
design from long time partner, Kappa, at the beginning of the 2012/13
season. Obviously, they wanted to
make an entrance, so what better way than to throw a party in the center of one
of the best, if not the greatest, footballing cities in the world? (this coming from a Bayern fan, too).
Puma kicked the party off with a yellow yarn campaign, simply
putting the team’s colors all over anything they could find in the dead of night throughout the
city. When everyone got up in the morning they saw yarn covering trees,
statues, trashcans, etc, nothing was spared. This was a great idea, because it got everyone’s attention and people would take something home as a keepsake, which means the Puma logo
goes home with them. 
Next, they took to Alten Markt for an open-air party in the
city center, and conveniently, right in front of a Puma store. In the middle, there was a stage with a 16-foot
blank model of a jersey. A crew of
seven painters emerge with spray-paint cans and begin to paint a replica of the
brand new jersey, officially unveiling the design for the first time to the
public. As you might expect, once
they had finished several team members and the coach emerge from the store, dressed
the new kit. Puma hoped to
finish off its promotion by using the celebrity status of the players to prompt immediate
sales.
I feel that events like this are becoming not only commonplace,
but also necessary for these brands.
If you’re not doing it, you’re falling behind, so it’s important for these
brands to not only produce great products and kits, but also to grab the
attention of your audience and reel them in with exciting events. Adidas already started their Bayern München
#RedPassion campaign weeks ago with a series of short videos of past triumphs,
and surely we will see many more campaigns in the months to comes leading up to
the next season.
(On a side note, it is a bit curious seeing several players
wearing the shoes of rival brands, which makes me question if the absence of
some of the big time stars is due to conflicting contractual obligations. Although, they could have simply been
on vacation or with the national team.)
