Puma’s relaunch of its CATch UP magazine signals something larger than a simple PR refresh – it’s part of a quiet but significant shift among brands to reclaim control over their narratives and audiences after years of social media dependence.
On the surface, the relaunch appears straightforward: a revamped digital publication featuring CEO interviews and athlete profiles. But view it through a wider lens, and it reveals three converging strategic imperatives in brand communications.
Owned-media renaissance
After a decade of “social first” content strategies, brands are confronting an uncomfortable reality: they’re tenants, not landlords. Algorithm changes can decimate reach overnight. Platform volatility – from X’s transformation to TikTok’s regulatory uncertainties – has exposed the fragility of rented audiences. Puma’s investment in puma-catchup.com represents a return to fundamentals: owning your own distribution.
Beyond employer branding
While CATch UP began as an internal employee magazine in 2015, its external relaunch suggests Puma has come to recognize something Red Bull understood 15 years ago: the line between brand communications and media is dissolving. Kerstin Neuber, Puma’s Senior Director of Communications, frames it as storytelling – sharing “75 years of history and incredible innovations” with “anyone interested in our company.”
This positioning is revealing. It’s neither pure digital press room nor employer branding nor fan service – it’s an attempt to create a space where corporate transparency becomes brand equity. By offering audiences “insights into the company,” Puma is betting that authenticity and access can set it apart in an oversaturated market.
Red Bull precedent looms large
Red Bull Media House transformed a drinks brand into a credible content powerhouse – sponsoring athletes evolved into producing award-winning documentaries and live events. Puma’s effort, focused on “innovations, sports, history, corporate culture and strategic priorities,” is more modest. It’s brand journalism, not media empire-building.
Yet that might be the whole point. Not every brand needs to become Red Bull. What Puma is doing – perhaps with more brands to follow – is occupying the middle ground: warmer than traditional PR announcements, more substantive than social snippets, more controlled than platform-dependent content.
Strategic calculation
This isn’t about abandoning social media – it’s about hedging. Owned media provides narrative control, SEO benefits, first-party data (the new marketing gold) and a direct relationship with audiences. When Arthur Hoeld discusses turning Puma into “one global sports brand,” that story lives on Puma’s infrastructure, not Meta’s or ByteDance’s.
Puma’s CATch UP relaunch represents a pragmatic evolution in brand communications. The company is acknowledging that announcement-driven PR has limitations while recognizing that few brands can replicate Red Bull’s content ambitions. It’s owned media for the post-social-first era: focused and modest, but strategic and increasingly necessary.
