“We have been working very hard over the past 12 months to integrate Cobra into the Puma business and now everything is in place,” starts Ian Barrett, EMEA marketing manager for Cobra-Puma, as he was for Cobra under Acushnet ownership. “There have been some challenges but we are now in a position to take the business forward. As of April 1 we have been officially completely separate from Acushnet.
“Being with Puma has different benefits as it has a much broader reach into other sports, and we are bringing some of the Puma brand flare and identity into Cobra, as you can see from our work with golfers such as Ricky Fowler and Johan Edfors – they are players who stand out and everyone loves how they approach their golf – they bring a freshness to the game.
“Cobra is stepping away from the established way of doing things in golf, and so we have the opportunity to create a new niche for the brand. We are not going to break all the rules but we are going to push the boundaries and make things different and attract new people to golf at a young age. Hopefully people will then stay with us throughout their journey through golf because they like what we are about and because the products are great.”
Room for expansion
The Puma mantra for golf is: ‘Look good, feel good, play good’ and now that Cobra hardware no longer needs to fit around the Titleist mission to attract the better player, and its important product lines such as Bob Vokey wedges and Scotty Cameron putters, there is an opportunity for Cobra Golf to expand its product line.
“Acushnet did not want Cobra competing against Scotty Cameron or Bob Vokey,” confirms Barrett, “but we no longer have those barriers. We will be entering new product categories within the next 12 months – either at the back end of the 4th quarter of 2011 or definitely in the first quarter of 2012. We are also looking to attract the ‘aspiring golfers’ – those in the 5-10 handicap range – who do not play enough to get down to scratch but who still want to play with really good equipment.”
In bringing some of the Puma lifestyle into golf, and looking to combine a youthful movement with performance-based technology, we can look forward to some imaginative promotions in 2011, such as setting up an “unconventional” golf course in Sandwich during Open week in July, which might feature a fastest hole challenge, a beach hole, chipping into Ricky Fowler’s Puma cap and playing in five-balls instead of four.
On the retail side, Cobra is putting into action a ‘Stick it and rip it’ promotion, in which golfers are given clubface stickers to illustrate the benefits of the brand’s E9 technology of its S3 driver.
“The clubface stickers prove how well the E9 technology works with the elliptical clubface,” explains Barrett. “This is key for us at retail this season. Sometimes explaining club technology can be complicated, but the great thing about the face tape is that it is a tangible item that proves very clearly the benefits of the technology.”
With over 300 Cobra demo days also planned at clubs over the next four months, the new era of Cobra promises to be as visible as some of Fowler’s on-course outfits. And that is exactly the idea.
