Sports brand Puma India has on-boarded budding actor Shanaya Kapoor as its new brand ambassador to deepen its connect with Gen Z consumers in the country.
Shanaya will front PUMA’s athleisure and performance wear, taking the sports brand a step closer to its next generation of shoppers and boosting its commitment towards connecting with youth culture.
“I have always been a daredevil. I regularly play basketball and now dabbling in tennis and badminton. I am excited to show this side of me through my association with Puma,” said Kapoor. “As an active person, I find it extremely important to feel comfortable yet fashion-forward. I have so many ideas for projects and campaigns that I will be taking part in and will bring them to life with my Puma family this year.”
She is set to star in two Indian film productions and will make her debut with a Telegu-Malayalam film with actor Mohanlal. She will also make her OTT debut in Karan Johar’s Student of the Year 3 franchise.
As part of her association with Puma, Shanaya also announced her debut on the popular multimedia messaging app Snapchat. Through her public account, Shanaya will engage with her Snapchat audience and give exclusive and unfiltered glimpses of her life, and her partnership with the sports brand. The 23-year old already has 1.8 million followers on Instagram.
According to a Bain & Company report on E-Retail in 2022, one in three online shoppers in India is Gen Z.
“Gen Z are digital natives. Their influences on entertainment, shopping, education, fitness, food, and wellbeing are shaped and cultured differently. This cohort requires a distinct language of expression. As a brand, Puma looks forward to connecting authentically with them through our association with Shanaya,” Shreya Sachdev, head of marketing at Puma India, said.
India has the biggest user base on Snapchat in the world with over 200 million monthly users. About 90% of its users are between the ages of 18-24 years, the highest for any social media platform
With this association, Shanaya joins the company’s arsenal of brand ambassadors such as Kareena Kapoor Khan, Anushka Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, MC Mary Kom and Avani Lekhara.
The German sportswear maker posted revenues of Rs 2,980 crore during FY22 ended December, and outsold rivals—Adidas, Nike and Reebok—all put together, according to the latest filings with the Registrar of Companies. A year ago, it had sales of Rs 2,044 crore.
