Latest / Boardroom Conversations with Fexingo: CEOs, Strategy, and Corporate Leadership Explained / How Puma Board Outmaneuvered Nike in Football
Transcript
- Lucas: So let's talk about one of the most audacious board-level bets in sportswear history. Puma in the early 2010s was not a cool brand. It was stuck between Nike and Adidas, with no clear identity, falling market share, and a stock that had basically flatlined for years. Luna: Yeah, they were the third-place player in a two-horse race. What changed? Lucas: What changed was that the board decided to go all-in on football. Not just sponsoring a few teams — they wanted to own the conversation around the world's biggest sport. In 2013, they signed a ten-year deal with Arsenal worth about 150 million pounds. That was big, but the real signal came in 2015. Luna: That's when they signed Neymar, right? Lucas: Exactly. Puma pulled off a shock move — they signed Neymar away from Nike, who had sponsored him since he was a kid. The deal was reportedly worth around 25 million euros a year for ten years. For a company with less than 3 billion euros in revenue at the time, that was a massive commitment. It was a board-level decision, not just a marketing department call. Luna: And they didn't stop there. They also snapped up Manchester City in 2019, another Nike departure. City's deal was worth about 650 million pounds over ten years. Lucas: Right. So in the span of a few years, Puma's board approved sponsorship spending that totaled well over a billion euros. That's roughly 10 percent of their annual revenue at the time being committed to football. It was a bet the company strategy. Luna: And the board had to be convinced that this was the right move. I imagine there were skeptics — Puma had tried this before in the 1990s with mixed results. Lucas: Absolutely. The key figure here is the CEO at the time, Bjørn Gulden. He had a background in sportswear — he'd worked at Adidas and then turned around Puma's apparel business. When he became CEO in 2013, he argued that Puma couldn't win by being a me-too brand. They needed a single, clear focus. Football was the biggest sport, and it was growing globally, especially in Asia and the US. Luna: So the board bought into this thesis. But how did they measure success? What was the ROI they were looking for? Lucas: The board set clear metrics: market share growth in key categories, particularly football boots and jerseys. Then revenue growth in the football segment, which they tracked year-over-year. And third, brand heat — a qualitative metric measured through surveys and social media engagement. They wanted to see Puma's name mentioned alongside Nike and Adidas in the same sentence. Luna: And did it work? I mean, we're looking back from 2026. What happened? Lucas: It worked better than most analysts expected. By 2020, Puma's football-related revenue had more than doubled. Their global market share in football boots went from about 5 percent to over 15 percent. They became the clear number three, but importantly, they closed the gap with Adidas in certain markets like Brazil and Germany. Luna: But there were risks. The Neymar deal — he underperformed on the pitch in terms of Champions League wins. And Manchester City had that two-year ban from the Champions League, later overturned. Did the board ever get cold feet? Lucas: There were definitely moments of tension. The board actually renegotiated the Neymar deal in 2020, extending it but adjusting terms. But they never wavered on the strategy. In fact, they doubled down — they signed partnerships with AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, and the Italian national team. By 2024, Puma was sponsoring more top-division football clubs than any other brand. Luna: That's a bold move when you consider that Nike and Adidas still have deeper pockets. But Puma's board seems to have been disciplined about it. Lucas: Disciplined is the right word. They capped sponsorship spend at a percentage of revenue — I think it was around 12 percent at peak. And they made sure that every deal had a performance clause, so if a team got relegated or didn't qualify for the Champions League, payments decreased. That kind of risk management is what separates a smart bet from a reckless one. Luna: So what's the lasting lesson for other boards? If a company is stuck in third place, how do you decide when to make a big, focused bet? Lucas: I think the lesson is that you need a thesis that's specific and testable. Puma's board didn't just say 'let's be bigger in football.' They said 'we will become the number two brand in football boots by 2025 by signing the biggest stars and clubs.' They set a clear target, they funded it appropriately, and they reviewed progress annually. And crucially, they were willing to walk away from deals that didn't fit — they lost out on signing Lionel Messi because the price was too high. Luna: That's a good discipline. But what about the broader context? In 2026, football sponsorship costs have skyrocketed. Would this strategy work today? Lucas: It's harder now. The top clubs and players are locked into long-term deals with Nike and Adidas. But the principle still applies: find a category where you can be number one or two, make a concentrated bet, and measure the return relentlessly. Puma's board did that, and they turned a fading brand into a genuine competitor. Luna: It's interesting to think about how this compared to other turnarounds. We've covered a lot of board decisions on this show, but this one feels like a classic case of narrow focus beating broad ambition. Lucas: Absolutely. And speaking of the show — if these conversations have given you a new way to think about strategy, or helped you in your own work, there's a small way you can keep them coming. It's at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a simple thing. If today's episode was worth the price of a coffee to you, that link is the way to support us. No pressure, just a nice way to keep the show ad-free. Lucas: Exactly. And back to Puma — one last thought. The board's bet on football didn't just save the brand; it redefined what a number-three player can achieve. They proved that with the right focus, you don't have to be the biggest to win. Luna: And that's a lesson that applies far beyond sportswear. Lucas: It really does. For Boardroom Conversations, I'm Lucas. Luna: And I'm Luna. Talk soon.