New PUMA ambassador and World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen shared his motivation and inspiration in a new wave of work within the sportswear brand’s ongoing, global ‘Only See Great’ brand campaign.
The campaign is spearheaded by a hero spot in which the Norwegian chess super star speaks about what drives him to remain at the peak of sports and how he became the highest-rated player in history.
In the interview style spot, the five-time World Chess Champion talked about his extraordinary performances, winning his first Grandmaster title at 13 years old, and how the journey to success and a balanced mix of physical training and a healthy lifestyle is giving him the energy to succeed.
The ‘Only See Great: Featuring Magnus Carlsen’ dropped across most PUMA digital and social platforms from 27 February.
“We often think of sports as being physical, but you also need mental strength. Few people embody that spirit like Magnus, who is widely regarded as the best chess player of all time. We are proud that he has become a part of the PUMA Family,” said PUMA CEO Bjørn Gulden
“Greatness for me is being able to do something over a long time while constantly improving yourself, aiming for the best,” said avid sports fan Carlsen. “I have never been motivated for specific goals in my chess career. I just always wanted to learn to be better each time that I play and now I do have a goal of being the first player to reach that 2900 rating inflation in chess, but what’s more important to me is the journey that would possibly get me there. It’s being able to do all the right things to give myself a chance to do that. I care about this a lot in my day to day life.”
Touching upon his recent World Championship win in Dubai, Carlsen said: “What was most memorable for me personally, during the last 1h of play, is that I was very calm. I was not stressed, even though there was only little time on the clock, and what I felt after I made the last move was just deep satisfaction of having pulled through and having done things the right way at the end.”
Comment
This campaign again illustrates that the global chess trend continues following Netflix ‘Queen’s Gambit’ and the recent FIDE World Championships.
This campaign follows chess-linked marketing initiatives such as Carlsen’s recent tie-up with Mastercard, Stella Artois ‘Bullet Chess Speed Run’ with grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura and ‘Kasparaov Take On Hearthstone’.
Carlsen is the newest addition to Puma’s athlete endorser stable and becomes the latest sports star to appear in its ‘Only See Great’ brand platform: which sees the sports apparel company explores the career path of its leading brand ambassadors and provides them with a platform to talk about their own paths and visions and how they have striven for greatness.
The digital-first ‘Only See Great’ debuted back in April 2021 and was part-inspired by quotes from Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z who said “I only see great. I don’t see good. I don’t see compromise. We should always strive to make something great, something that will last.”
“Jay originally shared these personal thoughts on greatness in one of our very first discussions around product design. His quote so perfectly represented the message that we as a brand wanted to convey in this unique year of sporting events and cultural moments, such as the Olympic Games in Tokyo,” recalled PUMA Global Director of Brand and Marketing Adam Petrick. “I think the message is about filtering out anything less than great, looking within and seeing something that no one else can see.”
The campaign aims to take consumers into the minds of PUMA athletes and ambassadors and to spread the brand’s vision of ‘hope, optimism and self-belief’.
Previous PUMA endorsers to have appeared in the campaign include Neymar, Winnie Harlow, Antoine Griezmann, Pep Guardiola, Usain Bolt, Lewis Hamilton and Cara Delevingne.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.