Puma revives an icon from ’80s and ’90s with “Welcome Unbored”

Maggie Hanson All News

Launched to high school and college basketball players in the US by PUMA, the model was available in many university colors and drew attention on the courts thanks to its advanced stability and cushioning, the famous ANTI SHOCK SYSTEM.  The variety of colors captivated a broader population than just those in the basketball community, and spread through American streets from ‘88 through the early 90s. 

With the models The Beast, which mixes leather and fake fur, and Slipstream Snake, which imitates snake skin, the model wins over the very demanding Japanese public, and becomes an emblem in the country. 

In 2021 and 2022, the brand releases the historic model, reinvented, but still with the silhouette that has spanned all these decades. While Slipstream has conquered American and Japanese youth at different times, the brand wants to make it into a leader in its category, and conquer the “Sneaker heads” around the planet. Kids born after 2000 who grew up with the sneaker culture, and who look to icons of the past. 

For the international relaunch, PUMA turned to agency LAFOURMI who created the concept of “Welcome Unbored”.   

Bringing together no fewer than 12 ambassadors from different worlds, from athletes to, singers and influencers, the PUMA Fam is setting out on an incredible journey! 

Jordane Rabute, Strategy Director of Lafourmi:

“PUMA asked us to create a campaign that would appeal to Sneakerheads born after 2000, who’ve always been immersed in sneaker culture. A demanding target that’s not always sensitive to advertising because they’re overexposed to it. We wanted to give a nod to their desire to change things – style, culture, values, which often move much faster than society. Then there was this word – “Slipstream” – the current of air behind fast-moving objects like Formula 1 cars and space shuttles.” 

Directed by Frédéric de Pontcharra, features more than a dozen of the German brand’s ambassadors in a retro-futuristic film lasting 1 minute and 36 seconds, whose central elements are the Slipstream and the sneakerhead. 

The idea behind the campaign: this generation is moving faster than the society in which it lives. Rather than waiting to change it, they will go and create another elsewhere, on another planet. Like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos post-2000 with determined style, without rules. 

The PUMA Fam turns a space crew, Slipstream, the coolest in the galaxy, and invites everyone who is bored with society to get on board. 

Clément Cimarro, LaFourmi, Creative Director:

“You can only have an effect on people if you submerge them in an intense universe where the narrative and the aesthetic meet up. That’s what we wanted to do for Slipstream in the Sportstyle category, where form sometimes takes precedence over substance.” 

Put an end to boredom and climb aboard a space shuttle piloted by Kingsley Coman, where Memphis Depay and Lamelo Ball are on board to give you safety instructions for an intergalactic journey to a new world full of thousands of possibilities. But, careful, the Slipstream is your only way in. 

Floating screens, holograms and a digital cockpit, the Slipstream universe is directly inspired by space pop culture films like the The Fifth Element, Star Trek, and MIB. 

The Parisian post-production studio Mathematic, internationally recognized for its work for Coca-Cola, Mercedes, Tencent, Disney+, and more, oversaw visual effects for the film, enriching them with a master retro-futuristic style. 

100% digital, the campaign relies on an ultra-powerful ecosystem, with distribution of the film and related content via the cast’s and PUMA’s social media. 

The Slipstream campaign will also run OOH throughout Europe (Paris, London, Madrid, Berlin, Milan, Amsterdam, Stockholm) with a broad media plan including giant tarpaulins, metro stations, DOOH, and more. 

Thibaut Cornet, co-president of Lafourmi:

“We are very pleased to be behind this particularly ambitious campaign, especially since this one, after many soccer campaigns, marks our first foray into the Sports Style category for PUMA!  

CAST : 

Pro Athletes: Neymar Jr , Romeo Beckham, Kingsley Coman, Memphis Depay, LaMelo Ball, Armand Duplantis, Gianmarco Tamberi 

Artists and influencers: Danna Paola, Pamela Reif, Nessi, Just Riadh, Imenella, Don Strapzy 

Brand: PUMA 

Brand Managers : Benoit Menard, Laurent David, Messilia Ourak 

Agency: LaFourmi 

  • Agency Management : Thibaut Cornet, Céline Jobert 
  • Creative Director : Clément Cimarro 
  • Copywriter : Clément Cimarro 
  • Strategic Director : Jordane Rabute 
  • Client Director : Louis Pierre-Adolphe 
  • Account Manager : Mikael Ramirez 
  • Head of Advertising : Laura Conroy 
  • TV Production and Art Buying : Barbara Vaira 
  • Print Art Directors :  Coralie Mapouata-Barlerin & Julien Hablainville 

Production: HVH  

  • Director : Frédéric De Pontcharra 
  • Producer : Nils Haagensen, Maxime Bouyer 
  • Production Director :  Adèle Barach 
  • Directory of Photography : Madhi Lepart 
  • Set designer : Lucie Libotte 
  • Wardrobe : Axelle Gomila 
  • Make-up : Pauline du Manoir 
  • Hair : Manon Cana 

POST-PRODUCTION 

  • Post-Producer :  Damien  Fernandez 
  • Chief Monteur :  Antoine Deslandes 
  • Assistant Monteur : Nicolas Macé 
  • Étalonnage : Nicolas Gauthier 

VFX 

  • Visual Effects : Mathematic 
  • Line Producer : Claire English 
  • VFX : Daniel Rodriguez 
  • Executive production : Falka 

MUSIC : 

  • Producer :  Joseph Petitpain 
  • Composer : Senbeï 
  • Sound Design : Samuel Jurkovič

PHOTOGRAPHER : Louise Carrasco 

  • Producer : Adèle Villemin 
  • Production Assistant : Bianca Javogue