PUMA: Black Station
PUMA offers three lines: Red (sport), Blue (lifestyle), and Black (high-end collaborations). PUMA’s Black Station line consisted of collaborations with high-end fashion icons like Neil Barrett, Christy Turlington, Phillippe Starck, Mihara Yasuhiro, and Alexander McQueen.
The following are some projects I led for the Black Station initiatives:
PUMA 96 Hours
Fashion designer Neil Barrett conceived PUMA 96 Hours which was a capsule collection for the active international traveller who needed to literally pack a bag for his/her 96 hour business trip. What do you need to pack in a four day period that accommodates your sport lifestyle with lifestyle fashion?
This collaboration hadn’t seen an approved concept in three seasons so it was a huge accomplishment to get the following concept accepted by both parties when I joined the team.
“Elevated” Concept
Attempting to think outside the box for this campaign I actually went back inside a box by thinking of what an active international traveler had to experience everyday: an elevator.
Elevators have become an integral part of urban living and i thought it would be an unusual way to encapsulate this collection by juxtaposing outdoor sport with urbanization. We rented a studio space in London and constructed a makeshift elevator as the landscape of our photoshoot.
Icing on the cake was nabbing my first choice campaign model, Freddie Ljungberg, who was peak Swedish soccer star and Clavin Klein model at the time. He encapsulated the essence of sport lifestyle with lifestyle fashion (Photography: Phillippe Geugen with La Souris Photography).
Magalog
To celebrate the approval of the PUMA 96 Hours “elevator” concept I wanted to encapsulate the “feel” of elevator materials in the magalog by way of using an aluminum cover.
The actual magalog was encased in a metallic envelope that had to be torn to reveal the content — a commitment to continue the journey into this revealing of a new campaign (every time an elevator door opens you don’t know what will be on the other side). The final magalog had an aluminum back and front cover to mimic the sensations of pressing the buttons within an elevator.
POS/POP + Billboards
PUMA 96 Hours had not released a campaign in 3 seasons so having this concept approved was a big deal. As a creative it’s always fun to have a budget for single/double page print ads as well as billboards.
Lookbook
Look Books are often the last marketing piece for a fashion line. My task was to make this marketing piece inexpensive yet branded so it didn’t look like it could belong to another label.
My solution was to incorporate the Black Station branding I had created as a backdrop for the season’s looks.
PUMA Black Station Store Launch
The first PUMA Black Store launched in NYC’s Meat Packing district in 2005. All high-end collaborations were found in the Black Stores (we also opened in Georgetown, DC) as well as Barney’s, Saks, and other high-end retail stores. Our inspiration included “PUMA U-Bars,” Allen Wrenches often used on-the-go by cyclists and skateboarders, Bicycles, and general “sport-lifestyle whimsy.”
Identity
As part of the “sport-lifestyle” concept we really liked the idea of carabiner hooks as a practical yet functional device. We knew we would be using these hooks storewide as hanging devices and explored whether they could be incorporated into the logo.
Ultimately we went with the safe logo lockup but below are a few of my favorite explorations. When creating a new identity I like starting with basic and traditional font styles before delving into literally dozens of visual options.
Business Cards
For all print materials where there was enough budget, I explored the use of varnishes instead of regular flat grey scale outputs. This sort of execution provided a lux feel and stood out from regular print materials. This execution is best seen in-person.
Store Opening Invitation
The store launch invitation was an extension of the business cards where different varnishes provided a depth of design on an otherwise flat piece of marketing.
Shopping Bags
Shopping bags were designed methodically by what needed to be packaged: accessories, shoes, boots, etc. All bags mimicked the business cards and print materials with different varnishes for the different logo collaborations.
Store Launches
The store launches were huge endeavors. The “logo blocks” displayed were used on shelves to identify which collaboration the consumer was perusing — especially helpful in partnering stores like Barney’s and Saks.
Below I’ve included some mocks of the logo walls that were designed as “peg walls” where the “PUMA U-Bars” could be configurated depending on the product that was to be displayed.
In the photos you will also see how we used the PUMA “form-stripe” as a bench and a shelving unit that mimicked stadium seating (a wink to “sport-lifestyle”.
