Rihanna's Ad for Puma

PUMA finally revealed the first promotional image from their upcoming campaign with Rihanna. They wrote on Twitter:

An icon who does it all needs a shoe that can keep up. Introducing the Pulse XT, worn by Rihanna.

#ForeverFaster

Rihanna will become PUMA’s global ambassador for Women’s Training and serve as the PUMA Women’s Creative Director, bringing her styling sensibilities and innovation to PUMA’s collections. Embodying everything that PUMA stands for, Rihanna’s unstoppable spirit, creative energy and prowess both on and off the stage, make her the perfect representation of the PUMA brand.

Through this partnership, Rihanna will be the face of PUMA’s Women’s Training category. Fans can anticipate PUMA and Rihanna taking a fresh, forward thinking and non-traditional approach to sports, fitness and lifestyle – fusing Rihanna’s personality, love of sports, spirit and style into the growing footwear and apparel segment. No stranger to breaking the mold with beauty, fashion and lifestyle trends, Rihanna, with PUMA’s support, will bring her personal touch and creativity to the athletic world.

Rihanna will also assume the role of PUMA’s Creative Director for the category, directly influencing product collections as early as 2015, and working in partnership with PUMA’s Internal Product Creation team. These collections will be designed with the goal of strengthening women in training sessions and beyond, and inspiring confidence in their bodies and themselves – the exact confidence for which Rihanna is so well known and celebrated. As part of her role, Rihanna will work with PUMA to design and customize classic PUMA styles as well as create new styles to add to the PUMA product portfolio.

Speaking about the new partnership with PUMA, Rihanna said: “It’s great to find a brand that celebrates strength and individuality. I couldn’t think of a more perfect partner to collaborate with as a creative director. I’m excited for you to see what Puma and I come up with.”

Rihanna will play a starring role in PUMA’s brand campaign, Forever Faster and be featured along with many of PUMA’s world-class athletes such as Usain Bolt and Sergio Aguero. PUMA and Rihanna will launch several fan activations throughout the partnership around the world such as consumer and retail events, training and fitness related social media content, and product programs.

Bjørn Gulden, CEO at PUMA commented: “Signing Rihanna is a fantastic step for PUMA. Her global profile, her charisma and individuality, her ambition – all these things make her a perfect ambassador for our brand. She also aligns perfectly with the values PUMA strives for: to be Confident, Brave, Determined and Joyful. With a strong portfolio in football, running and motorsport, finding an inspiring partner for women’s training was very important. Rihanna was a natural choice for us. We’re delighted to have her as a partner, and we’re looking forward to what’s to come.”

Adam Petrick, Global Brand & Marketing Director for PUMA said, “Rihanna brings joy to audiences around the world but also ignites and awes. PUMA admires her for never waiting for the next big thing, but more so for driving what happens next – in fashion, style, music and soon to be – sports. We can’t wait to empower women worldwide with Rihanna – she demonstrates a body confidence and determination that is the exact representation of the PUMA Woman.”

“I’m very excited about this. Whether it’s apparel or shoes or accessories, I want to modernize it by highlighting the classics and going from things that make Puma Puma — give it a youthfulness, make it hip, basically [make it] Rihanna,” the singer told WWD, while taking a short break from countless meets and greets with the German activewear brand’s managing board and the hundreds of employees who gathered to snap a few pics of the affable performer. Calling her new assignment “a little bit surreal,” the singer vowed “to come up with cool things that don’t even belong in Puma.” “It could even be down to suspenders,” she laughed. “We can experiment and take risks, that’s what I’m most excited about — the creative freedom.”

WWD: What’s the first thing that pops to your mind when you hear Puma? Rihanna: My childhood. Some of the first sneakers I owned were Puma, and I wore them to death, until they had holes in them. They were sleek running shoes, I had them in pink with the black Puma stripes on the side. They also made them in Jamaican colors and so in the Caribbean it was like: What? Jamaican colors? That was the it-shoe in Barbados — if you didn’t have those, [that was it]. You know how kids are.

WWD: How many pairs of sneakers do you own, and do they outnumber your stilettos? Rihanna: I have too many [sneakers] if that’s even possible; they are mostly in storage now. [Rihanna catalogues all her performance looks in a 4,000-square-foot storage unit, of which roughly 1,000 square feet is dedicated to shoes.] They are probably on par with my stilettos. I love a heel but recently I’m tending more to sneakers. Being in the studio, traveling, touring — you cannot do that in heels, unless you are Posh Spice [she laughs]. She is in the airport with four kids and she gets it done. She is so legit’.

WWD: How does music, your core activity, relate to fashion? Rihanna: Music and fashion go hand in hand. I think music inspires all types of arts; it inspires life, emotion, mood, and all of those things are reflected in my fashion and my style. One doesn’t go without the other.

WWD: How serious are you about your designing career? Are you ready to take it deeper? Rihanna: I love designing. I’ve always enjoyed it. The thing I love most is the unexpected result between my brand and theirs, the combination, the marriage — it’s like having a baby, you put two things together and all of the sudden it bursts into a new thing. It’s life. At River Island I was able to see stuff come to life, draw up an idea from scratch, and that made me want to take on a bigger challenge. And MAC was an amazing experience — from creating packaging to going through textures. I would love to do cosmetics, because I love beauty: choosing colors, creating shapes. It’s like painting, you just get to play. The same way I treated MAC, I will attack Puma.