Since sponsoring Usain Bolt and the Jamaican Track & Field team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Puma’s advertising, at least when we’re talking about running shoes, is Jamaica-centric. “The World’s Fastest Band” campaign takes place in Jamaica, and even features the tagline, as seen below, “Inspired by the fastest country.”
With the campaign completely revolving around that little island nation in the Greater Antilles, Puma and ad agency Droga5 made me completely forget the fact that Puma is based out of Germany and was started by the brother of Adidas’s founder, which is a story in itself. Check out the Wikipedia page.
It’s definitely a gutsy move to revolve a campaign around Jamaica and their current domination on the track because it’s only a matter of time before another country takes the gold, and with it the claim of “The World’s Fastest Country.” For now, Puma is safe, but what happens if an American or anybody other than Usain Bolt takes gold at the London 2012 Olympics? With that said, I still love the campaign. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I love the movie Cool Runnings. Anyway, here’s a couple of the spots featuring “The World’s Fastest Band.”
corymccollum.com 