The ambition was big - re-launch PUMA’s classic 1968 Suede and bring a totally new generation to the timeless icon.

We had to reach a very specific audience – new and younger, who are effortlessly connected to what is breaking and ahead of the trend, without alienating an older generation who already know and love Suede.

Ultimately, we needed a narrative that captured both.

To bring Suede to yet another new generation, we wanted to nod to Suede’s long-standing history of being at the epicentre of new music moments like hip-hop’s emergence and breakdancing and B-Boy culture, and use it as an opportunity to celebrate a new wave of music culture.

Introducing a creative music platform from PUMA that gave talent the microphone.

It feels like a record label - A music publishing platform that allows PUMA to collaborate with artists, create content and share stories.

Across its own channels, media partner channels, and collaborate with retailers in a fresh way. ?

This creative idea essentially meant PUMA gave a loudspeaker to its collaborators.

IWe teamed up with king of the streams, Spotify, to create a new space for emerging artists, to collaborate with established talent and push the scene forward, re-establishing Suede through the lens of today.

We created a fully kitted-out Suede Studio, brought together five recording artists, a radio station, podcasts, live performance and a VICE partnership – with Suede at the heart of the lyrics, bars, beats and sounds.

“There weren’t no Suede on my shoes, when I was on a twos,

Big businessman, I’m astute,

Packed on route,

Trying to teach the youth,

There’s certain knots you can’t undo!

There’s more to life than this,

I sacrifice mine for this,

My bros did too.”

In October 2020, our launch strategy saw legendary grime artist Ghetts, two emerging artists Villz and Myerz, and one of the hottest producers in the game, TenBillionDreams, collaborate on a new track, titled Newham.

Together, these three generations of Newham recorded the new track, released on Spotify and supported on Suede Music by PUMA’s Spotify page.

PUMA’s social channels were also used to promote Suede Music and drive video views of the new track, and a host of PUMA’s influencer community actively engaged in the campaign.

From November 2020, the Suede Studio then became host to a series of up and coming music artists, aired a radio programme, recorded podcasts and opened its doors virtually to offer music lovers technical tips and tricks when recording from home – in response to the changing Covid-19 government guidelines.

Not only did our hero launch moment reach 281 million people via media and 2.3 million via social media, Suede Music resonated across all PUMA channels and was adopted by its retailers for a fully integrated launch of Suede Classics. The success will see the Suede Music platform extended across Europe in 2021.

Results included:

Spotify partnership reached nearly 1M people & 6.9M impressions, driving scale the most amongst 16 -24 year old males. 2 x higher CTR than typical fashion campaigns and +26 average ad recall

104 influencers with total Instagram reach of 3.2M

VICE partnership reached 2.3M

Music & fashion coverage included Clash, GRM Daily, Independent, Music News, GQ, Mix Tape Madness, Yahoo & Notion

Over 38K Spotify streams of Newham

Collaborations with Ghetts, KNUCKS, Jaz Karis, Big Tobz, Shaybo, 3 Shots of Tequila, Remel London & No Signal

Retailer partnerships with JD, Size, Footlocker, ASOS & OFFSPRING