• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, December 12, 2013

Sports company PUMA has appointed WPP ad shop JWT New York as its lead creative agency, after a review the client confirmed Thursday. The appointment is effective immediately, and JWT will assume responsibility for all PUMA advertising and creative on a global basis, with reach across North America, Europe, Latin America, APAC and Middle East/Africa.

The incumbent was Droga5 which did not defend. Zenith handles the client’s media chores which were not part of the review.  The brand spends about $5 million in measured media in the U.S. according to Kantar.

The appointment comes after recent C-level management changes at Puma. Bjorn Gulden became the company’s new CEO in July while Andy Koehler was appointed COO in June.  

 Over the last three months PUMA’s new management team has created what JWT termed a “unified brand platform” along with a new tag line that will launch in 2014: “Forever Faster.”  The statement is supposed to be a nod to what the agency says is PUMA’s “65-year history of making fast product designs for the fastest athletes on the planet.”

 JWT will work with its new client to define its new “Forever Faster” brand messaging before rolling out a new global brand campaign in the second half of 2014, the agency said.

“In JWT, we have found an agile agency with a global reach that understands the PUMA brand and culture,” stated Gulden. “Together we’ll craft a more nimble creative structure that will allow us to support all of the company’s sporting and lifestyle categories with a single consumer message and streamlined creative concept across territories.”

PUMA is the latest in a string of new business wins for JWT New York in the last three months, which includes a consolidation of Energizer brands and a creative assignment from Google.