The Challenge

As sponsors of the Jamaican Running Team and high-profile sprinter Usain Bolt, PUMA found itself with a potential treasure trove of buzz leading up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In order to capitalize on Bolt’s popularity, PUMA created a microsite and online game centered on their “blogumentary” ChasingBOLT that followed Bolt’s chase for Olympic gold from Kingston, Jamaica all the way to Beijing.

To enhance this effort, PUMA decided to make its first full-scale foray into social media by distributing the videos across the web rather than making them available only on their website.

The Solution

Prior to ChasingBOLT’s launch, Pandemic Labs performed a thorough blog and community outreach program carefully focused on the running community, Jamaica loyalists, and Usain Bolt fans around the world. This outreach effort paved the way for a successful and enhanced video distribution strategy and empowered the overall strategy to generate online buzz. Even before the peak of Usain Bolt’s record-setting participation in the Olympic Games, influential bloggers ranging from hardcore running experts to obsessed Bolt fans were aware of the PUMA video campaign and were featuring the first videos on their blogs.

The series of videos that were shot and produced in China by PUMA were transferred to Pandemic Labs, who took over the core video distribution effort. Pandemic Labs seeded and optimized the videos across 16 video sites, communicated with site managers, managed daily channel activity, tracked metrics, and provided regular suggestions for improvement.

The Results

• The primary goal of this campaign was to generate online chatter about PUMA, and Pandemic Labs’ efforts in video distribution and promotion led to massive online chatter. The front page of AdAge’s August 25, 2008 issue notes that global online chatter about PUMA increased 64% during the 2008 Olympics, compared to 17% and 18% for brand competitors. Thanks to Pandemic Labs’ blogger and community outreach, a search in any top running blog or community forum for “PUMA Running” or “Usain Bolt” will yield a link to ChasingBOLT content.
• The day that ChasingBOLT made the front page of YouTube, Puma experienced the highest single-day traffic to any Puma web property.
• PumaRunning.com received over 1.1 million visits during the campaign – a ten-fold increase compared to August 2007
• Pandemic Labs created a lasting platform for engagement. The ChasingBOLT YouTube channel has over 1300 subscribers and has been visited nearly 60,000 times.

We have worked with Pandemic Labs as distribution partners on a number of projects, most recently ChasingBolt for PUMA Running. Their expertise and attention to detail delivered fantastic results: hundreds of thousands of views across multiple channels, YouTube honors, and loads of positive comments…plus reporting and metrics to back it all up. These guys rock.

Owen Mack, Dir. of Strategy & Development, coBRANDiT