Puma’s OOH strategy: Shreya Sachdev breaks down the brand’s playbook

For Shreya, OOH advertising isn’t about default placements or media buys,it’s about the idea first. “Our campaign planning always starts with the idea. Once that’s locked, we choose the mediums that help land the message most effectively,” she says. And in many cases, that medium turns out to be OOH. 

Shreya explains that Puma looks at campaigns as part of a broader 360-degree strategy, especially for large-scale activations. “We’d never lean on just one channel,it’s not effective, and it risks spamming the consumer. OOH becomes relevant when you want to create impact at scale.” 

This layered, context-driven approach is reflected in the brand’s use of OOH for campaigns that demand visual dominance or emotional resonance. Case in point: the RCB campaign, where fans were featured on a billboard alongside players,a gesture that wouldn’t have landed the same way on digital.

The Olympics campaign, similarly, relied on high-impact OOH formats like building wraps, a digital blinking billboard, and even a train wrap. “That idea needed a demonstrative outdoor element. It just wouldn’t hit on social media,” Shreya notes. 

By contrast, when the tone of the campaign doesn’t suit OOH, Puma stays away. For a Gen Z-focused sneaker campaign featuring PUMA’s brand ambassadors Ibrahim Ali khan and Shanaya Kapoor, Shreya says they didn’t include OOH at all. “It didn’t align with the narrative or the audience. And that’s fine, we’re not married to the medium.” 

On the creative side, Shreya talks about staying within the brand’s defined “zone of play”, a balance between bold ideas and brand authenticity. “We’ve always been a bit risky, a bit different. But we stay true to our DNA. You can’t push creativity just for the sake of it.” She recalls the PVMA activation during the launch of PV Sindhu as brand ambassador, where the store signage was temporarily renamed as a tribute, an idea rooted in brand values but executed with flair.

While innovation is something the brand welcomes, Shreya is clear that it’s not innovation on a whim. Even when experimenting with technologies like AI or programmatic OOH, the team approaches them with caution. “We didn’t jump on AI just because others were doing it. We used it where it made strategic sense, like with the Puma Dive campaign in 2023.” 

Touching on measurement and outcomes, Shreya explains that success metrics are defined at the planning stage. For a product-led campaign like that of RCB, proximity to stores and sales lift are key. For brand-led initiatives, the measure might be reach or buzz, like how the PV Sindhu billboard placement drove instant talkability because of its high visibility. “It wasn’t about mass rollout. It was about choosing two or three powerful sites that would go viral.” 

On spending, Shreya avoids fixed ratios. “There’s no rigid budget for OOH. It depends entirely on the campaign. If it fits, we go for it. If not, we don’t.” She adds that OOH’s unique strength is its universality. “Unlike digital, where audiences are fragmented, OOH talks to everyone,because everyone steps outside.” 

Puma’s use of OOH is highly tactical, choosing locations and formats based on who they’re trying to reach. Whether it’s office-goers, sports fans, or Gen Z users in high-traffic leisure zones, placement is about matching messages to the moment. 

Shreya states that programmatic is used when needed, especially for video-led campaigns, but static formats still work better for simple and sharp messaging for PUMA as a brand. Shreya concludes that while digital is evolving fast, traditional formats like OOH must adapt to stay relevant, and when done strategically, they can deliver the kind of brand impact that’s hard to match elsewhere.