By PUMA has announced significant changes to its brand marketing framework as it aims to enhance storytelling across various product and brand interfaces.
The sports brand intends to integrate its product creation, innovation, go-to-market, and brand marketing departments into a unified organization focused on delivering more coherent and impactful brand stories.
In this new format, product creation and storytelling will operate concurrently, a strategy designed to maintain authenticity and coherence from idea to consumer.
As part of this restructuring, Maria Valdes, who previously held the position of chief product officer, has been appointed chief brand officer and will head the newly merged division at the management board level.
Valdes, who joined PUMA‘s management board in 2023, will now manage brand marketing, product development, creative direction, innovation, and go-to-market strategies. Formerly, brand marketing reported to CEO Arthur Hoeld, while go-to-market was overseen by chief commercial officer Matthias Bäumer.
In addition, sports marketing will be separated from brand marketing and will continue to report directly to Hoeld. These organizational changes take effect immediately.
“With our incredible heritage and our state-of-the-art sports-performance products, including our NITRO technology, we have a significant opportunity to craft stories that resonate; however, PUMA’s prior storytelling approach was overly fragmented,” stated Hoeld.
He continued, “By aligning storytelling and product development closely together, we will reinforce our iconic products and sports performance range, while establishing the clarity and structure essential for better positioning PUMA against competitors in the sporting goods sector.”
This reorganization coincides with PUMA’s efforts to bolster its regional marketing leadership. The brand recently appointed Gabriel Yap as the senior director of marketing for Southeast Asia. Yap, who most recently was the regional senior marketing director at ASICS, announced his departure on LinkedIn after a seven-year career with the brand.
In his new position, Yap is responsible for steering the strategic development, implementation, and effectiveness of PUMA’s marketing strategies across SEA, emphasizing consistent brand representation and stronger brand equity in key markets. He will manage brand marketing initiatives in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, reporting to Sanjay Roy, the managing director for SEA and Oceania (SEAO).
