• by Larissa Faw , June 18, 2014

Sports brand Asics has named Publicis Groupe's Starcom as their Global Media Agency partner.

Starcom will handle Asics' global communications strategy, media planning and buying, as well as data and analytics. In addition, Starcom will work with Asics global creative agency, 180 Amsterdam to develop an integrated communications model across 14 markets globally. 

San Diego-based incumbent Vitro, which previously handled both U.S. creative and media planning and buying, will still maintain American creative duties for the Japanese-based brand. 

"Consolidating and maximizing the efficiency of our global media strategy and spend is a major step towards our path to accelerate Asics brand equity and business growth," says John Mollanger, global marketing division senior GM and Senior Executive Officer, Asics. "Starcom has demonstrated a very sharp understanding of our brand and strategic objectives with a clear roadmap to success. We look forward to starting our global partnership to achieve our ambitious goals in the coming years." 

Although Asics will continue to emphasize its running shoes in the U.S., the 60-year-old company plans to rework its overall brand message, according to Asics' CEO/president Motoi Oyama. "We have seen substantial success in further raising the visibility of the Asics brand by adopting global advertising campaigns with unified brand visuals and by communicating Asics’ world view through our global network of stores," he said.

"However, we are now at the point where we need to implement a new strategy to further increase the visibility of our brand. This strategy will maintain our existing reputation for high-performance, high-quality products, while also rebuilding brand design, including store environments, to create a brand that is more familiar to general consumers,"
 Mollanger added.

Asics spent $14.62 million on advertising in the U.S. in 2013, down from $15.08 million spent in 2012, according to Kantar .