Puma Projection & Teasers Launch New Arsenal Strips

Puma rolled out its first official Arsenal kit on 10 July and to launch the Gunners 2014/15 Kit Trilogy it hosted a unique visual stunt in the form of a 20 metre high water projection on the River Thames.

The evening projection across the water with a backdrop of the giant London Eye wheel, was followed by a launch event at Puma’s flagship store in Carnaby. This in-shop event began when players Santi Carzola, Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini stepped into the shop window wearing the new kits.

Arsène Wenger, who introduced the new kits within the projection stunt, also appeared with other players at the store kit launch event – which focused on the ‘Forever’ thematic idea.

This is one of the three ‘Future, Forever, Victorious’ values that Puma announced it would base its Arsenal partnership on when it first announced its new relationship with the club.

The reveal of the three kits (home, away and cup), which are fairly traditional in design, was streamed live online and accompanied with a social media push.

Fans gathered along the river bank to witness the spectacular launch stunt.

This grand launch was trailed from 1 July with pre-release teaser footage featuring players such as Mikel Arteta, Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud.

First Arsenal posted a picture to their Twitter page of Olivier Giroud, Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla in a plain white version of the kit – representing a blank canvas – and used the hashtag #StrongerTogether which united the various strands of the campaign.

Then the German sports manufacturer Puma released a series of Arsenal videos for the pre-launch campaign to generate interest in the new release..

These included ‘Puma X Arsenal / Future’,

A three-part behind-the-scenes teaser video series, largely based on a photo shoot, offered a few glimpses of the new home and away kits and again carried the #StrongerTogether line.

Part 1,

Part 2,

and Part 3.

Comment

These are Puma’s first Arsenal kits and mark a new relationship following on from the club’s previous 20-year partnership with Nike ended this summer.

The strips, which were seemingly first leaked by a fan in Macau who photographed them in Puma’s official store, come after Puma’s huge, five-year, £150m deal for both playing and training kits.

This is the biggest British football shirt deal to date and the biggest commercial deals ever for both the club and for Puma.

It eclipsed Manchester United’s previous £25.4m-a-year Nike deal, which itself will end next season.

During the same week Arsene Wenger also fronted an episode of the Arsenal Twitter Taoekever Series.