Adam Petrick, PUMA

And my responsibilities are creating the PUMA brand and identifying who the consumer is and how we address them with the products and services that we offer. So the marketplace today is complex. It's crowded. There's a lot of brands. There's a lot of competition for the same space in our consumer's mindset. There's a lot of streetwear competition, a lot of brands that play in non-performance category and the style category and the fashion category, and it's all kind of coming together. And so that creates a complex marketing environment for us. We have to not only address technology, performance, but we also have to address what looks good, fashion style, et cetera. And so that creates a market dynamic where our brand has to balance itself between both innovations and technologies that are making athletes the best that they can be in their individual pursuits versus making products that look great, that feel great, that inspire people to look their best. And that's sometimes a tricky dynamic to get right. Over the last 10 years, the sneaker space has gotten in particular more crowded than it's ever been. I think sneakers have become a fashion piece. Even luxury brands are making sneakers now. So everybody is in the same crowded space trying to make desirable sneakers, make desirable athletic apparel that people can wear on an everyday basis. I mean, it's also, not only do you have the luxury brands crowding the space, but you also have the typical day-to-day acceptance of athletic wear as something that people can wear on their way to the bank or to get their breakfast or whatever. And so sports has become fashion. Fashion has gotten into sports, and so it creates a very muddied environment where there's a lot of brands competing for the same dollar. Well, over the last couple years, the focus that we've had has shifted from trying to address an audience in a very broad way, trying to make sure that people are aware of our brand, make sure that people are aware of our products, to shifting into something that's very different. In my opinion, something that is much more relatable, much more personal. I think that we've worked very hard to become a brand that people can relate to, not necessarily through advertising, but through product creation and product creation in a unique way that embodies stories that people can get excited about. It probably sounds a little esoteric or abstract, but the bottom line is I think we're trying to create products that inspire people, that give people something to share with their friends, that help people to kind of feel good about the purchase that they've made that's not just about, you know, a kind of a, you know, I'm a soccer player and I see this advertising for a football boot, you know, more than any other, so therefore I must buy that boot. Or I know that boot is sitting on the foot of some great player, so I've got to purchase that boot as a result of that thinking. But it's more about inspiring people to see the brands that they take part in, that they purchase as a part of their overall aesthetic, as a part of their overall mindset. And that's an important shift, not only in the athletic wear industry, but I think overall in the consumer products business. I think, you know, the industry in general is shifting toward more meaningful relationships with consumers in a way that I think is exciting and positive. The processes that we've gone through to find the stories that allow us to connect to consumers involve, you know, not only research and observation and listening to retailers and listening to consumers themselves, but, you know, generally speaking it's about observation. It's about opening your ears up. It's about paying attention to what people are talking about and not only paying attention to what people are talking about, but paying attention to what's underneath what people are talking about with the, you know, the things that drive customers, the things that drive the people that want to purchase our products. So the motivations become extremely important. You know, why does somebody want to participate in a brand? Why does somebody want to take part in Opt-in on an athletic brand or on any brand, frankly? You know, does it have something to do with the meaning of that brand? Does it have something to do with the politics of that brand? Does it have something to do with the social responsibility of that brand? Does it have something to do with, you know, the sustainability of that brand? I mean, all these things are things that inspire consumers to partake and to, you know, find meaning in their purchases. And I think that that's, you know, that's a positive thing. I think that if we're being responsible brands, if we are going to exchange in a meaningful and potentially positive way with our consumers, then our goal, our objective should be to listen, to understand what's important to our consumers, and to respond to that and to give them something that's meaningful. Over the last couple of years, the key stories that have been most important for us to share have been building on the merger between sports technology and fashion. You know, I think that's been a general trend over the last, let's say, five, six years that we've been a part of, that, you know, people want products that are more comfortable because they are more technical, whether that's breathability, whether that's flexibility, whether that's just anything that creates more comfort for the consumer, that's a value to the consumer. But I think there's also the idea of meaning and the idea of, you know, having something of value to the brand that means something to the consumer. So whether that's a cause that we get behind, whether that's, you know, something that that's important to me as a marketer, but this is also important to our brand, you know, in terms of our values, equality, gender equity. You know, these are causes that I think are more and more going to become a part of the language and the vocabulary of brands that I think is a good thing because it's relevant to the consumer of today, it's relevant to where the consumer is going tomorrow. And I think that's, you know, that's frankly the future of where I think we have to go as brands. We have to be responsible brands, we have to reflect the values of our consumers, and we have to listen and observe and then react in a way that is responsible. You know, there's a story of an athlete in the US named Skylar Diggins, who is, you know, absolutely without question one of the best basketball players in the WNBA. She also happens to be a woman, and as a result of being a part of the WNBA and being a woman, her compensation is not the same as the guys at the same level in the NBA. And, you know, this has been something that's been a topic of great concern for her and something that she's, you know, started to question and started to push against. And I think as a brand, you know, we have Skylar as an ambassador, we trust her, we support her, we think that she represents the values and the interests of our consumers. And so I completely embrace the position that she's taking and not only try to support her in terms of compensation equity, in terms of, you know, what we pay her from a contractual standpoint, but also in terms of what the WNBA is doing to, you know, better support their athletes and better compensate their athletes and create a space of equity. I think that, you know, if it's, if we have stories or we have topics that are important to our athletes, it's our obligation as a brand to support those athletes and support those stories and tell those stories and push for change and push for advancement. And if we're not doing that, then we're not doing our job. I think that in the last five, six years, and let's say the last two years in particular, you know, what I can tell you is that all of the research that I get, all the papers that I get, all the insights that I get, tell me that, you know, consumers are more focused on cause-related marketing, cause-related, you know, topics than ever before. I think, you know, people have a belief that it's time to make change. It's time to push for change. It's time for people to reject the negativity and the hatred of previous generations and try to shed all that and try to move into a new era when there's greater equality, when there's greater, you know, support, just general embracing of equal values amongst, you know, all of our different consumer segments. And I think that, you know, that's, that's, we're at a turning point right now. I believe that, you know, some of the negative things that we're seeing in politics, and by the way, sports is inherently related to politics, no matter what anybody else says. I believe that very firmly, but some of the negative things that we're seeing right now, whether it's the, you know, the far-right politics in Europe or the far-right politics in the U.S., frankly, I think that that is the death rattle. I think that it is the end of an era. I think it is the last signal of a generation that, you know, maybe feels that they haven't been treated fairly, that feels that there's, you know, I don't know, some kind of challenge to equity that doesn't make sense to them. But I think that our younger consumers, the people that I want to service, the people that our industry wants to service, they believe that equity is the most important value that you can embrace as a brand. And that is the place that we need to inhabit. Like, I can't rationalize any other type of behavior than to listen to my consumer and reflect what their values are and try and support them in everything that they want to embrace. The most important piece of advice that I can offer is to listen, to pay attention to what the consumer is telling me, because 99 out of 100 times they have the answers to the test and they're telling you what they want. You know, yes, I know there's the famous quote from Henry Ford, if I asked the consumer what they wanted, they'd tell me they wanted a faster horse. But I think that there's insight in that, that, you know, you have to kind of dig through and try and interpret as a marketer for a brand that's, you know, trying to address the concerns of your consumer. You have, you know, whether you have technology, whether you have storytelling, you have ambassadors, you have all these different tools in your arsenal to try and address the concerns of your consumer. And our job is to listen very, very carefully, to comprehend what's important and to try and meet that in every possible way, from your product to your store experience to your e-commerce experience to the, you know, the way that you engage from an activation standpoint at an event, anything that we do has to be grounded in the reality of what's important to our consumer. Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen. That's the most important piece of advice that I could give anybody that's getting into marketing. Listen, observe, comprehend, pay attention and try and turn that into actions. I mean, we've seen a 300% increase in activism amongst our core consumer, our youngest consumers over the last two years. Why is that? I think it's because politics has become very negative. I think that, you know, the environment that we're in has become very negative. And I'm optimistic that 2019 is going to be a moment when people start to rebuke the status quo, younger people in particular start to push against, you know, what's going on in the environment that they inhabit and start to push for something new or something more positive. I'm optimistic that, you know, we as a brand will be able to support that and participate in that. And I'm optimistic that we'll be able to, you know, help our consumers to achieve their goals. But I think that the most important thing that we as marketeers can continue to do is to try and listen, be honest, support the interests of our consumer and and, you know, basically pay attention, you know, pay attention and serve your consumer. You know, it doesn't matter what product category you're in. It doesn't matter whether you're in toothpaste or soap or sneakers or any other category. It has to be about listening and supporting the interests of your consumer. And that's what's going to create brand value for us in 2019 and beyond. I think that things are going to get more political before they get less political, that's for sure. And I think that, you know, the environment that we're all in right now is so divisive, whether it's Germany or Denmark or, you know, any other, the U.S. in particular. You know, our political environment is so divisive that our most important consumers need to start expressing themselves. And I want to inspire that. I want to inspire our consumers to say what's important to them and to, you know, to get their voices heard. So I think that's important for brands to play a role, to inspire people, to raise their voices. And I think that it's, you know, we're at a moment of inflection. We're at a, you know, is it going to happen in 2019, 2020? I don't know, but at some point the old guard is going to go away. And I think there will be a new mindset. There will be a new space. There will be a new environment where, you know, positivity is the dominant principle, where, you know, equality is the dominant principle, and where, you know, brands can go back to, you know, creating things that are, you know, fun and fashionable. But I think right now we have a responsibility to listen to what's going on in the environment and to respond to it. So, you know, I think that that's what 2019 is going to bring. Yeah, if we stay true to our mission of always trying to seek improvement, always trying to be better.