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‘Fearless’ Puma gets its World Cup retaliation in first

Could the world tire of football one of these days? Or at least turn away from its incessant barrage and the money it attracts?

The forthcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar will be an interesting test: the advance PR has been anything but good – was bribery involved? Was it right to interrupt the European club calendar (it’s a touch hot in Qatar for the usual summer event)? There are loads of human rights issues with the Gulf state.

Some advertisers may dial it down, doing as little as they think they can get away with as at the recent Winter Olympics in China. Puma Global, however, is giving it both barrels: getting its retaliation in first before bigger outfits Adidas (official sponsor) and Nike (the ambush artists) get their blows in.

As always, Puma’s effort features its “properties,” chiefly PSG’s Neymar Jr but loads of others including women (not playing in this of course) and even tyro footballer Romeo Beckham (somewhere or other.) Those Beckhams are everywhere.

The film, ‘Fearless’ by Lafourmi and directed by Julien & Quentin for production company Hamlet, features what Puma calls FOTs, football obsessed teens.

Puma calls it: “A powerful statement, that doesn’t take itself too seriously, in line with the brand’s values.” But there’s a commercial point too: “Beyond soccer, this new mantra ‘Fearless’ is a brand motto and will accompany the launch of a complete product campaign for the arrival of the World Cup with the launch of new pairs of Future and Ultra, sporting new colors, visible throughout the film.”

That’s all the boxes ticked then and, actually, it’s pretty good – stays the course and you stay quite interested in the antics of the FOTs.

Not quite Wayne Rooney in a caravan, as he famously was for Nike and W+K all those years ago, but the star footballers don’t get in the way as they may well do for Adidas and Nike (who have far more of them of course.)

MAA creative scale: 8.

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