Principles and Practices of Marketing - Promotional Mix and Activity of Puma

This article discusses the principles and practices of marketing with a focus on the promotional mix and activity of Puma. It covers various tools of promotion mix such as advertising, public relations, sales promotion, events and experiences, personal selling, direct marketing, interactive marketing, word of mouth marketing, and social media marketing. The article also evaluates the effectiveness of the AIDA marketing theory model applied by Puma.

Principle and Practices of marketing
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
PROMOTIONAL MIX AND ACTIVITY OF PUMA...............................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................9
Model 1- AIDA Marketing theory .............................................................................................9
Model 2- Communication model..............................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing can be referred to a critical business function which is practices by various
profit as well as non profit organizations. Marketing is a concept that consists of product
designing, product development, research, promotion and customer service. The marketing
function is a blend of various principles, strategies and tactics. The marketing mix consists of
four Ps of marketing that refers to product, Price, Place and Promotion. The product is referred
to goods and services that the customers are offered. Price is referred to the amount at which the
product is offered to the customers. Place can be referred to the distribution channel of the
organization whereas promotion stands for the promotional activities that are used to convey the
information among the customers in the market related to the product in the market. Customer
retention is another concept of marketing where the organization makes effort in order to build
long term customer relations. The marketing concept also focuses upon the research and
development of the business organization. The promotional mix is a concept that comprises of
various promotional tools that are a part of marketing concept. The tools of promotional mix are
public relations, advertising, direct marketing and personal selling (Alfaro-Barrantes, Beaupré,
and Jacobs, 2021).
Puma is a manufacturing organization that deals in casual and athletic accessories,
apparel and footwear. The organization has its headquarters situated in Bavaria, Germany. Puma
is a German multinational corporation which was founded by Rudolf Dassler and established in
1948. The report revolves around the principles and practices of Puma (Andronie and et.al.,
2019).
TASK 1
PROMOTIONAL MIX AND ACTIVITY OF PUMA
Puma uses various tools of promotion mix in order to convey its products in the market. The
various tools used by the organization are explained below-
Advertising
Puma uses various advertising techniques in order to promote its products in the market.
The organization uses print media advertising as well as electronic media advertising through
television commercials. The organization advertises with the help of creative hoardings too. The
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focus of Puma advertising is upon generating high revenues from the cricket equipments. The
organization sponsors various sports events in order to advertise its brand. The recent
advertisement of Puma is about Football's Finest in order to promote Puma's spark pack. The plot
of the advertisement consist of Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola wherein he hypes the
new shoes of Puma. These include various players such as Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez and
Sergio Aguero. These players have previously starred for Adidas (Ang, 2021). The writers for
the advertisement are Francois Bevierre and Xavier Yonter. Also the advertisement was directed
by Sharif Abdel Mawla through Partizen. The comment remarked by Guardiola is “It all starts
with a spark that is how players become champions”.
Public relations and Publicity
The objective of public relations of Puma is to build goodwill of the brand in the market.
The public relations of Puma tend to establish relationship between the organization and the
target group of the organization that it aims to capture. The public relations can be established by
Puma through various paid as well as unpaid manner. The public relations and publicity of Puma
is done with the help of articles in the magazines, coverage through various modes of press and
media. The various other attention for the brands like Puma are winning of awards, presentation
ceremonies at various events and conferences. These help the brand in fetching attention of the
various stakeholders towards their brands. Puma tends to earn more rather than making
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expenditures upon the Public relations as they are getting the required attention in accordance
with the resources they are spending upon the various activities, people and events.
Sales Promotion
Sales promotion is an another promotional mix tool that is used by Puma in order to
promote its products in the market and encourage sale sin order to generate revenues for the
organization. The sales promotion tactic consists of various short term incentives that help in
increasing of more purchases in terms of products and facilitate trials. The sales promotion is
considered as the most important objective in order to accomplish sales goals. The organization
aims to support and enhance the sales in Germany, Switzerland and Austria with the help of
sales promotion tactics. Puma aims to get its brands endorsed by the various celebrities to attract
more custom's towards its brand.
The organization aims to create an energetic and positive work environment and also
organizes various fascinating events. The sales promotion technique plays a major role in
drawing an impact upon the behaviours of the customer and increase the share of their money
upon the organization. The promotion and development of the continuous efforts requires the
team member to have ample knowledge and skills in order to promote the products of a
particular brand (Ferenczová and Józsa, 2018).
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Events and experiences
The organization sponsors various events and experiences in order to grab the customer
attention towards the organization. Similarly, Puma takes part in various event organization.
Puma tend to sponsor various events related to sports in order to grab attention and provide
people with long lasting experiences. The various events sponsored by Puma are Team sport,
motor sport, golf, basket ball, etc. The various team sports that Puma sponsor are football, rugby,
cricket, handball and volleyball. Puma tends to cooperate with various best performing football
teams in the world such Italy, Manchester City etc. The organization sponsors motor sports
events in order to provide motor sport footwear and apparel that are created by Puma. Like these,
Puma sponsors various sports events to convey its brand in the market (Gardan And et.al., 2019).
Puma practices and fulfils various Corporate Social Responsibilities too. The CSR
policies fulfilled by Puma are in various societal as well as environmental concepts too. The one
such CSR policy is anti child labour policy that is being followed by Puma in order to beat its
competitors upon the ethical as well social grounds. Puma promotes sports scholarship under its
CSR policy in order to promote sports culture. Puma tends to make efforts in order to control
environmental pollution control which is a good initiative in order to spread awareness regarding
the ecological sustainable business.
Personal Selling
Personal selling of Puma helps in developing better relations with the target audience of the
organization. The relations are developed in order to sell the products and services in the market.
The brand tends to establish retail outlets under its brand name which focuses upon the better
engagement with the customers and help in facilitating face to face interaction among the
organization and the customers. The personal selling as a tactic of promotional tools help in
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analysing the needs of the customers and it also helps in demons tarting the value of the products
and services offered by Puma. Puma tends to provide a special treatment by adding customer
value through the mode of personal selling. These are mainly possible due to the offline setups
of the brand that contribute towards the personal selling (Gbadamosi, 2019).
Direct Marketing
Puma also uses the promotional tool of direct marketing wherein the organization tend to
sell the products and services directly to the customers rather than through a retailer. The brand
can issue various brochures, catalogues, etc. in its name to make people aware of the products,
services and offers of the brand. In direct marketing tools, the organization is in direct touch with
the customers through telemarketing, promotional materials and television home shopping
channels. These channels mentioned are the traditional tools of direct marketing that were used
by the organization. At present the organization and brands like Puma tend to practice direct
marketing through the mode of emails and mobile network marketing (Hanson and Kalyanam,
2020).
Interactive Marketing
Digital marketing has evolved as the core marketing channel for the various footwear
brands. Puma uses various digital channels in order to promote its products among the people.
The various digital channels include the own website of Puma as well various other social media
and other paid online advertising tools to promote the products worldwide. The organization has
its shopping website base in various regions of the globe such as UK, US and INDIA. Such
websites the main promotional tools of the organization. Various e commerce platforms like
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Alibaba, amazon and flipkart also sell the products of Puma online. The digital platforms tend to
engage the customers with the organization. The organization is more likely to have customer
information in order to facilitate interactive communication. The digital media platforms allow
the customers to keep a track of the latest products or activity that has been launched or initiated
by the organization. The interactive marketing tool allows the organization to track records of the
customer reactions in revert of their various activities (Hasan, 2019).
Word of Mouth marketing
Puma has been on the track to promote its products through subtle branding and
communication strategy. The motive of the organization is to attract the customers between the
age group of 16 and 25. These are the population that have the highest share in the product
utilization of Puma. Puma has emphasised upon the various interactive platforms to promote its
products such as digital promotion, retailing, store branding etc. Puma has mostly tried to gain
the positive word of mouth from the satisfied customers in order to show and have better
involvement of the brand with its customers. The brand focuses upon building a left brain
communication that is focussed upon conclusions and opinions of the customers. It allows the
person to generate various opinion such as judgemental or non judgemental form. The reason
behind a narrow communication strategy is that Puma aims to be a brand that satisfies the self
esteem needs as well status needs of an individual. Puma focuses upon building awareness in
context of the brand (Heckman, Vestergaard and Sole, 2018).
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Social Media Marketing
Digital marketing has evolved as the core marketing channel for the various footwear
brands. Social media marketing has become the trend to promote its products over the carious
social media platforms. Puma has a wide network on social media in order to promote its new
products. Puma has its wide reach over the various social media network platforms like
Facebook, twitter, and Instagram. Puma has apparently over 1.6 million followers on twitter,
over 20 million followers on Facebook and more than 10 million followers on Instagram. These
social media platforms tend to provide various interactive opportunities to the brand to
communicate with its customers over the social media platform. The social media marketing has
increased the customer engagement with the organization. The queries tend to reach directly with
the organization and in no times have a feedback and are resolved over short period. The main
motive is to provide the customers with a level of satisfaction in order to increase its market
share in the industry (Hopkins and et.al., 2021).
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TASK 2
Model 1- AIDA Marketing theory
Definition of the model
AIDA is referred to a copywriting formula that is highly effective and tends to focus upon some
specific consumers that result in a more personal and individual approach. The AIDA model is
used in various advertisement commercials, website advertisements, email marketing, website
advertisements, etc. AIDA is an acronym that stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
 Attention- This can be considered as the first and the last attempt which can help the
organization to get noticed in order to facilitate maximum user interaction. It states that it
is very important to grab the attention of the customer in the very first attempt or the
efforts will go waste and the goals can not be achieved.
 Interest- Once the organization has succeeded in grabbing the attention of the consumer
the next step is to make efforts in order to maintain the interest of the consumers in the
area. The organization must keep in mind the necessary demands, wants and needs of the
customers to develop their interest in the brand (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019).
 Desire- The organization needs to develop a desire in the mind of the customers or the
potential customers to own the product of the organization. This step requires to set or
create an emotional connection in the mind of the individual regarding the product. These
are possible with the help of customization in the messages.
 Action- Te last acronym is set in order to bring it into action. The aim of the organization
is to convert the potential customer into a consumer. This becomes possible when the
individual is induced to buy the product of the organization.
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Application of the model at PUMA
The AIDA model has been applied by various brands like Puma. These bands have a
talent to define their customer base and further aim at their target audience. Puma has a very
strong as well as attention grabbing malvertisements through various platforms like print media,
social media, electronic media platforms, etc. The various commercials through various
platforms help Puma in creating a desire among the customers regarding their products. The
AIDA strategy has proved be applicable while having a positive impact upon the demands of the
products manufactured by Puma. The AIDA model is applied by the organization in order to
develop a desire among the individuals that they needs a specific product of their brand. This
way Puma portrays the essentials of the products in order to develop a demand of their product in
their market (Koelzer and Kurth, 2021).
Evaluation of Effectiveness of the model
The model has found to be really effective in various organizations since the period it has
been introduced. The reason behind the effectiveness of the model is the emotion of the
individuals. It is considered that the decisions formulated in aspect of business tend to be logical
but the truth is that the decisions are taken while keeping in mind the aspect of the emotions. It is
essential for the organization to identify emotional needs that will help in optimization of the
marketing endeavours. Puma tends to focus upon the personality and the needs of the buyers or
the consumers and accordingly the organization tends to grab attention which further builds
interest of the customers and develops a desire to buy the products of the brand Puma.
Model 2- Communication model
Definition of the model
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The model explains crucial factors that prove to be effective in the communication process of
advertising. The communication model is explained below-
 Source- Source stands for the person who sends the message or is the origin of the
message which needs to be conveyed in the market. They transmit the message through a
proper communication channel.
 Message- Message is referred to the idea, thought, opinion or feeling that has been
conveyed through the source of media. The message must be clear and to the point.
 Media- media is referred to the medium through which the message is being conveyed to
the receiver by the sender. There are various forms of media such as print media,
electronic media etc. The communication can be in form of written as well as oral form
too (Moisander, Närvänen and Valtonen, 2020).
 Receiver- Receiver is referred to the person who is the recipient of the message. The
person to who the message is conveyed is the one who interprets the message conveyed
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with the help of the advertising tool. In order to understand the message the receiver must
be able to decode the message and analyse it in their own perspective.
Application of the model at PUMA
The sports apparel manufacturing organization, Puma has launched several campaigns in
order to communicate their brand and its products in the market an to the consumers. The “Only
See Great” campaign is a campaign launched by Puma in order spread positive attitude, vision of
hope and self belief among the customers with the aid of ambassadors of the campaign and
athletes. The campaign was launched with an aim to spread optimism prior to the sports events
that were to occur in the summer as they were expected to be among the challenging years for
the various sports people. The campaign had various ambassadors like Neymar Jr, Virat Kohli,
Lewis Hamilton, Karsten Warholm and many more who offered their personal perspectives upon
striving for greatness during the extra ordinary situations through various media interviews
(Olajide, 2018).
Evaluation of Effectiveness of the model
The communication model of Puma has had an impact upon the productivity and the operations
of the organization. The communication model has helped in increasing the level of productivity
of the organization. The productivity level has increased due to the efficient communication
between the employer and the employee along with the communication between the organization
and the stakeholders. The retailer of PUMA has deployed applications in terms of budgeting of
sales and labour, optimized schedule in context of attendance and time and work force analysis
in the various regions (Ruiz de Sabando, Forcada Sainz and Zorrilla Calvo, 2018).
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that marketing practices play a vital role in uplifting of an organization and
build a brand value of the organization. Marketing can be referred to a critical business function
which is practices by various profit as well as non profit organizations. Marketing is a concept
that consists of product designing, product development, research, promotion and customer
service. The report consists of the study in aspect of marketing practices of Puma. The study
contains a marketing portfolio of Puma that highlights various elements of promotional mix such
as advertising, public relations, sales promotion, events and experiences, direct marketing,
personal selling, social media marketing, interactive marketing and word of mouth that are
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practices by Puma to grab the attention of the customers in order to generate the revenues by
increasing sales of the products of the brand. The report further focuses upon the marketing
theories in aspect of Puma.
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REFERENCES
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Data. Good Practices. The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, 21(50), pp.258-258.
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