Here's why Virat Kohli's throwback picture of Puma is epitome of topical marketing

The ice-bucket challenge, 10-year challenge, people posting ‘Beginning of the decade’ and ‘End of the decade’ pictures and what not—every time or the other, there is some trend raging in the social media world.

Each time, a lot of brands have jumped on to the bandwagon of social media trends to gain the attention of consumers. But this time around, German sportswear and lifestyle brand Puma was quick and unique with its topical marketing.

In a smart marketing gimmick, the brand’s ambassador and ace cricketer Virat Kohli posted his version of ‘Beginning of the decade’ and End of the decade’ picture on Instagram. In the 10-year-back image of him, he is holding a pair of Puma flipflops in a tank top on a personal vacation, while his latest image shows him holding a pair of Puma of which he is the brand ambassador now.

Kohli’s Instagram post:

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli) on Jan 2, 2020 at 9:11pm PST

This form of marketing activity is unique as no other brand has tried it yet with its ambassadors. With Kohli’s massive fan following of 47.1 million on Instagram, the brand caught a whopping 39 million+ reach.

Sheeko Brandscore graph of Puma on Instagram:

The brand signed a global eight-year brand ambassador deal with Kohli in early 2017. According to news reports, with this deal, Kohli became the first Indian sportsperson to sign a Rs100-crore endorsement deal with a single brand. Before Puma, he was the brand ambassador for Adidas in India.

Recently, Puma signed a three-year deal with footballer Sunil Chhetri, where he joined the brand’s roster of global players such as Antoine Griezmann, Romelu Lukaku, Luis Suárez and Sergio Aguero among others.

Puma has teamed up with the country’s best athletes ranging from Indian cricket captain, Virat Kohli and boxing champion MC Mary Kom to ace sprinter Dutee Chand.

It also brought on board actress Sara Ali Khan as one of its faces in India in a two-year endorsement deal.

Earlier in May 2019, the brand launched its biggest campaign of the year, ‘Sock Them’, featuring Kohli along with Divine, the hip-hop artist. The campaign took inspiration from the skipper’s iconic moment at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where he made a statement by gesturing that he ‘Lets his bat do the talking’. As part of the campaign, the brand launched a music video with Divine and featuring Puma’s other ambassadors.

The video:

The brand spends 90% of its marketing budget on digital. With a focus on sports culture, influencer and content marketing makes an integral part of its digital marketing strategy.

Puma is consistent in influencer marketing, while its competition brand Nike is not very keen on this front.