2023 happened to be PUMA’s 75th year, an incredible milestone and one to be celebrated by revisiting and highlighting the rich legacy of the brand and the role it has played over time within sports and culture. Take this milestone and merge with the biggest cultural event of the year, the brief was set to drive brand love by creating a moment that put PUMA at the forefront of the conversation celebrating its legacy and the ongoing commitment to women’s sport.

The challenge was PUMA was not an official partner of the tournament or the Australian or New Zealand Team national teams rendering such opportunities null and void. So with IP strictly governed by tournament organisers, how does PUMA capture the hearts and minds of the nation and organically insert themselves into the tournament to come away as the cultural winners in the eyes of the public?

The idea: PUMA to partner with the first ever nationally representative players from the Australian & New Zealand 1975 Asian Cup tournament, the 1975’ers, the ‘OG’s.

PUMA may have been prohibited from talking about the present, so instead decided to take ownership of the history. The OG’s, despite their trailblazing 1975 Asian cup efforts, had gone unrecognised by the local governing bodies, with their story yet to be told.

The campaign brought the teams together again, flying them in multiple times from around the country and beyond to feature them in a multi-channel marketing campaign akin to how PUMA would market its modern-day stars - The publicity, the photo and content shoots, the social media, the billboards, the media coverage and interviews all culminating in a rematch 48 years in the making. These were no longer ‘forgotten footballers’, they were football stars.

Sport is a game of stories, the OG’s despite their trailblazing 1975 Asian cup efforts had gone unrecognised by the local governing bodies, overlooked as key contributors to making the game what it is today with their story yet to be told. Convention tells us that media outlets would be looking for rich storytelling opportunities to provide ‘colour’ for the tournament with an emphasis on showing how far we have come. PUMA strategically aligned the brand to the ‘unofficial’ history of the host nations shining a spotlight on the trailblazing women from the first nationally representative teams telling their stories and creating as campaign to officially recognise their contribution.

The opportunity was to deliver a brand led campaign that connected with a general sports consumer and 16-28 year old female athletes positioning PUMA as a brand for them by demonstrating their genuine commitment and investment in the Women’s game.

Launching with impact, 1 month out from the opening match of the tournament PUMA released an emotive video on social that finally recognised the OG's for their 1975 achievements and contribution to the game. This ‘tearjerker’ generated mass media attention via national TV, radio, print & digital coverage. The OG’s were out there.

Now in the spotlight, phase 2 saw the announcement of a ‘rematch’ 48 years in the making between the two teams. Leading up to this occasion, the OG’s were marketed as ‘modern day football stars’ in a 360 campaign that told their story. A bespoke pitch was built in the middle of Sydney Harbour serving as the centrepiece of PUMA’s brand activation playing a multi-purpose role from announcing PUMA’s latest R&D into Women’s specific boots, the rematch between the AU & NZ OG’s and a bespoke development program for a selection of next generation aspiring female footballers.

Overall, the campaign generated 457 individual pieces of media coverage resulting in an earned media reach of 98M. Impressively 249 pieces of coverage were broadcast mentions running across regional and national programs in primetime slots across the region. In comparison to key competitors, the earned media coverage was +64% higher than closest competitor and ‘organic’ social media impressions (4.4M) +56% higher across the campaign window. Additional to the brand-engagement metrics, true commercial success was realised early in 2024 coinciding with the launch of grassroots winter sports and key ‘boot buying’ window with the sell-thru of women’s boots up +508% YoY. On the 23rd of November, 2023 NZ Football brought together past Ferns for a special ceremony finally recognising their achievements presenting them an official debut cap. On the 13th November 2023, Lord Mayor of Sydney hosted an event celebrating the Australian Women pioneers and their contribution to Australian Football.