Dive Brief:
- As it continues to reshape its upper management, Puma this week appointed Julie Legrand to the position of senior director of global brand strategy.
- Legrand most recently was H&M’s global brand director, according to a company press release. In her new position, she reports directly to Richard Teyssier, Puma’s vice president of brand and marketing.
- Legrand has 20 years experience in marketing and brand management that included senior positions at Procter & Gamble.
Dive Insight:
Puma has enlisted an experienced brand and marketing veteran to lead its strategy.
“She will define and execute our strategy to drive higher brand visibility and strengthen the Puma brand and its perception around the world,” Teyssier said in a statement.
Puma has been undergoing a number of changes the past couple of years, including a shakeup last June when it reorganized its global brand management and marketing operations. Part of that reorganization included relocating the operation from Boston to the company’s corporate headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany, and seeing its chief brand officer exit the company.
The retailer had a change at the top in November 2022 when former CEO Bjørn Gulden stepped down in order to take the lead role at competitor Adidas. Puma named company veteran and then-Chief Commercial Officer Arne Freundt to the CEO position, succeeding Gulden.
More changes came in December 2022 when Puma named a new chief product officer. The company in March of last year named a new general manager of its Sportstyle business unit, and in October it appointed Andrew Rudolph, a veteran of Adidas, as its senior vice president of wholesale for North America.
Puma last month provided preliminary financial metrics, including full-year sales growth of 1.6% with sales reaching 8.6 billion euros (about $9.3 billion at press time). The significant 54% devaluation of the Argentine peso in December negatively impacted profits, with Puma expecting net income of 305 million euros.
“For 2024, we foresee the geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges as well as highly volatile currencies to persist,” Freundt said in the company’s financial report. “This continues to weigh on consumer sentiment and demand, especially in the first half of 2024. While we cannot change these external factors, we continue to stay 100% focused on elevating the brand and bringing exciting product newness to the market. We are in a better position at the start of 2024 than we were at the start of 2023.”
