PUMA has announced a strategic agency partnership with brand experiential agency Carrspace off the back of their winning submission for the PUMA 2015 retail marketing business.

Carrspace beat four other agencies in the competitive pitch. The move comes after PUMA’s dramatic new brand positioning “Forever Faster” was successfully launched by Carrspace to trade partners in May. PUMA followed this with a successful, national consumer facing campaign in August 2014.

“Forever Faster” is a re-alignment back to PUMA’s roots as the third-largest global sporting brand and creates the distinction between the PUMA Lifestyle and Performance categories. The Carrspace and PUMA partnership emerged as part of the new marketing and branding strategy employed by PUMA and their objective to re-engage their retailers and customer base.

Carrspace has already delivered key retailer activations that have re-energised the brand for PUMA’s retail partners Footlocker and SRG Group, and PUMA is now turning their experiential eye towards the consumer retail market.

“PUMA has the opportunity to re-boot the brand with our customer base, which we’re doing with a fresh new Global position , a solid and extensive above the line strategy and totally new experiential marketing tactics that are already paying off,” said Christina Panias, PUMA marketing communications manager.

“We’re now taking this strategic experiential approach into our retail spaces to reconnect with PUMA’s loyal performance and lifestyle shoppers. We know that our customers have a genuine affection for the PUMA brand, so now it’s time to give back to them with an exciting and elevated shopping experience.”

Carrspace director and executive producer, Madeleine Preece, said: “Smart brands are taking a fresh look at strategic experiential campaigns to amplify their above-the-line as it connects the customer with a brand better than anything else out there. We’re delighted to be working with PUMA to re-engaged their consumers and retailers.”

Preece added: “The brand experience for a consumer comes from every channel – above the line, in the retail store, online and socially. Integration is key, we love working with clients that value this. PUMA are incredibly forward-thinking in their decision to lead this conversation and give their consumers a brand experience from every angle, most importantly within their retail stores.”