PUMA ad cheers for sports, but does it score with our experts?

Earlier this month, Puma India rolled out a TVC "Let There Be Sport" posing a rather pertinent question: "Since when did sports become an extracurricular subject?" The campaign features Virat Kohli, Mary Kom, and Sunil Chhetri, conveying a message that sports teach you life lessons. 

Indian educational system is still dominated by rote learning with little to no place for sports. Despite its role in character building, sports is still considered an "extracurricular subject" that hasn't received its due. PUMA's latest campaign urges the nation to have a renewed attitude towards sports. 

The film presents a montage of powerful scenes along with a voiceover talking about how sports teach valuable life lessons that shape a person's character for life. "Ye sirf extra subject nahi, ye zindagi ka main subject hai," says the voice.

PUMA India has always associated with sports people and celebrities to deliver messages revolving around sports and fitness while pivoting towards lifestyle and fashion. When asked about partnerships with sports personalities, Abhishek Ganguly, MD at PUMA India and South East Asia in an interview with e4m said that they look out for opinion leaders that create a huge impact. He said, “We are very focused on having the right kind of opinion leaders, especially women opinion leaders associated with us like a partnership with Mary Kom. Off late we’ve signed up more as a brand which is becoming larger we are trying to stay relevant with the various consumer segment.” 

The brand encourages women’s sports and hence they have been actively onboarded women athletes. Ganguly said, “We want to provide a platform for women to come and express especially in India, for example, in our campaign Proper Lady well women came and expressed themselves breaking gender stereotypes. For years cricket has been called a gentleman's game and now it is changing, we are trying to enable this change to become faster.” 

What do experts think?

We asked creative experts about their thoughts about the film. Their reactions are mixed. While some commended the concept, others had issues with the execution.

Emmanuel Upputuru, Founder of Efgh Brand Innovations, said, “The film is decently made – except I find the opening line - 'Sports extracurricular subject kab ban gaya' - a little odd or even wrong. It makes it sounds like sports was once ‘not an extra-curricular subject’ but a main subject. It could have and should have been “Sports extracurricular subject kyon hain?” – It would have made the same point. The point of view is a fresh one. The brand picked a good subject.”

Aalap Desai, CCO Dentsu Creative West and Dentsu Creative Experience, India, said, “PUMA has had such beautiful films in the past that three is a legacy to live up to. This ad for me doesn't live up to that. The edit just about loses the energy midway through the sequences because it's been seen before. The situations in the montage lack ingenuity. The montage is also portrayed in a vanilla manner. The concept is nice and the campaign line is too but the energy of the shots, music and the narration stops at 95% leaving me with a sense of incompleteness and predictability.”

As a spectator, Manoj Pandey, Group Creative Director, Cheil India, loves the idea of "extra" being dropped from "extra-curricular" in sports, given his own vocation -- copywriting -- carries the same tag, but he does have a bone to pick with the ad. "If I have to critique from the grandstand, as an ad professional, I’d definitely do away with the hoarding at the intro and the outro of the ad film. While it does the job of explaining the concept, it really drops the ball on crafting. Regardless, I’m definitely cheering for the braveness of the idea."

Communications consultant Karthik Srinivasan, on LinkedIn, wrote, “Brilliant writing by Ogilvy India in the new Puma ad! It's a simple idea that may evoke, 'How come no one else has thought of such an obvious idea before this?!' (of questioning why 'sports' is part of 'extracurricular' activities in schools). This concept is particularly resonant in India because of how schools prioritize books-based and exams-based learning while relegating 'extracurricular' activities as 'beyond' the need for formal education.”

“But the ad expertly questions that premise by offering life lessons one can learn from sports, and also making appropriate use of celebrities - Virat Kohli, in particular, even if I say this a day after RCB's loss to CSK :)”, he added.