Recently released: Puma’s first basketball shoe in 20 years.
Brands. If you’ve built a great product, you’ll need an audience. And if you’ve built a captive audience, you’ll need a great product. Draft night has come and gone. This year, a brand was the night’s biggest story. Puma was last relevant in the basketball world when NBA legend and current Knicks commentator Walt “Clyde” Frazier played in the 1970’s. Founded by the younger brother of Adidas’ Adolf Dassler, Rudolf’s Puma brand is historically viewed as the little brother to Adidas.
Their market positions would confirm as such. Adidas is currently trading at a $35 billion market cap, nearly five times the size of Puma’s $7.5 billion market position. But that’s where the disparaging ends. Puma, an American mountain cat known for its secrecy, has made one of the biggest brand splashes in recent memory. It caught the entire industry off guard.
