“PUMA has witnessed the nature of sports and sports culture change over the course of the last decade, and it has become apparent that esports has a valuable role to play in how the next generation shapes sports culture.” Matt Shaw, Team Head of Digital Marketing @PUMA
Sports clothing brand PUMA partnered up with esports organization Cloud9 to create a clothing line for the esports community. Instead of straight-up trying to push their designs forward, they used social listening tools to create a Cloud9 dedicated collection.
Insights company Nielsen found that the sentiment around the partnership was 700% higher than the norm for traditional sports. Why? Because PUMA’s goal wasn’t getting likes. They wanted to involve their fans in the conversation. It soon became clear that the active fan participation in creating the apparel resulted in significantly higher engagement.