PUMA® Partners with The Huffington Post to Exclusively Launch The PUMA Index Web Site

BOSTON-(Business Wire)-September 22, 2009 - PUMA^®, the world’s most desirable sportlifestyle brand, and The Huffington Post, a leading news and opinion site, today announced a partnership to launch the PUMA Index (theindex.puma.com), a playful “stock ticker” web site featuring models whose level of dress is dependent on how well global stock market indices are performing. As the stocks go down, clothes come off; and as stocks rise, models get dressed. The tongue-in-cheek PUMA brand campaign consists of a five-second commercial spot and banner ads to be shown exclusively on HuffPost. The initiative showcases PUMA clothing and the brand’s new PUMA Bodywear to The Huffington Post’s large and influential audience.

“The PUMA Index is our own cheeky commentary on the economic state today and a way to approach the discussion with a bit of levity. Think of it as a marketing tool that delivers news you can use — market updates — in a manner that makes you smile,” said Antonio Bertone, Chief Marketing Officer for PUMA AG. “HuffPost is one of the most influential social media brands and partnering with them gives us the ability to reach a wider audience, but also the right target audience that we know enjoys fun, thought-provoking content.”

“PUMA has always been an innovative brand, so it’s natural that the company is fully embracing the Internet with a clever campaign aimed at surprising and captivating online users,” said Eric Hippeau, CEO of The Huffington Post. “HuffPost’s audience is smart and engaged — and it has a terrific sense of humor — so targeting our users in this way is the ideal way for PUMA to launch its Index campaign.”

The PUMA Index site is the second phase of a campaign which launched earlier this month as an iPhone application. Different from the iPhone application, the interactive site allows consumers to not only monitor the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but also the DAX (Germany) and the ASX (Australia), updating market data approximately every fifteen minutes. Users can choose from a male character or one of the three female characters. As the stock market drops, the selected character loses a layer of clothing to reveal the new PUMA Bodywear collection underneath; as stocks rise, the characters put on more clothing. They keep busy during the day with various activities, such as reading the paper, washing their car, playing with their dog, ironing or snacking. When stock exchanges are closed in a user’s time zone, his or her selected model will be seen sleeping.

The partnership with The Huffington Post exposes PUMA to the site’s more than 22.5 million unique monthly visitors. As part of the launch, The Huffington Post is exclusively unveiling a five-second commercial spot as well as supporting ad banners all day on Tuesday, September 22^nd.

The PUMA Index iPhone application was released on September 8, 2009. Consumers who download the iPhone application can bring it to any PUMA Store across the US and receive a 20% discount.

For more information about the PUMA Index, visit theindex.puma.com and watch the demo video on You Tube. For more information about PUMA, visit www.puma.com.

About PUMA

PUMA is one of the world’s leading sportlifestyle companies that designs and develops footwear, apparel and accessories. It is committed to working in ways that contribute to the world by supporting Peace, Creativity, and SAFE Sustainability, and by staying true to the values of being Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative in decisions made and actions taken. PUMA starts in Sport and ends in Fashion. Its Sport Performance and Lifestyle labels include categories such as Soccer, Running, Motorsports, Golf and Sailing. The Black label features collaborations with renowned designers such as Alexander McQueen, Yasuhiro Mihara and Sergio Rossi. The PUMA Group owns the brands PUMA, Tretorn and Hussein Chalayan. The company, which was founded in 1948, distributes its products in more than 120 countries, employs more than 9,000 people worldwide and has headquarters in Herzogenaurach/Germany, Boston, London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.puma.com.

About The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com) is a leading news and opinion site which in four years has become an influential media brand — "The Internet Newspaper." The site offers coverage of politics, media, business, entertainment, living, style, sustainable “green” living, world news, and comedy, and is a top destination for news, blogs and original content. The Huffington Post ("HuffPost") has 22.5 million (source: Google Analytics) unique users each month and is the most-linked-to blog on the Internet, per Technorati. In 2008, the site launched its first local version, HuffPost Chicago; HuffPost New York launched in June, 2009. The Huffington Post has an active community, with two million comments made on the site each month. HuffPost has over 3,000 bloggers — from politicians and celebrities to academics and policy experts — who contribute in real-time on a wide-range of topics making news today. Among those who have blogged on HuffPost are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Larry David, Nora Ephron, Larry Page, Madeleine Albright, Robert Redford, Neil Young, Rahm Emanuel, Albert Brooks, Mia Farrow, Russ Feingold, Al Franken, Ari Emanuel, Gary Hart, Edward Kennedy, Harry Shearer, John Kerry, Bill Maher, Nancy Pelosi, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ryan Reynolds, Craig Newmark, Alec Baldwin, Donna Karan, Kenneth Cole and Donatella Versace. A comprehensive list of the contributors to The Huffington Post can be found in its blogger index: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/index/.