Puma: Marseille C'est Nous

A Mosaic of Local Heritage

The campaign moved away from traditional celebrity-led marketing by casting exclusively local Marseille residents to represent the city's diverse African diasporas. By avoiding mainstream influencers, the agency ensured the campaign maintained authentic street credibility. The visual identity was crafted by Tareet, a Marseille-based designer of Senegalese origin, and captured by photographer Izudin Yusuf, who focused on everyday neighborhood settings rather than sterile studio environments to ground the project in the reality of the city.

From Laundry Lines to Design

The intricate graphic patterns featured on the jerseys were inspired by a clothes peg pattern - a poetic nod to the iconic image of laundry hanging across the narrow streets of Marseille’s popular neighborhoods. This design choice served as a visual metaphor for the physical and cultural threads connecting the city to the African continent. In a move to prioritize community over commercialism, the jerseys featured no corporate sponsor. Instead, the phrase Marseille, c'est nous was displayed in the native language or dialect of each represented nation, including Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, the DRC, and the Comoros.

Localized Manufacturing and Demand

To minimize the carbon footprint and support the regional economy, the entire production run was handled by LCS Groupe in Perpignan, France. The initial release was strictly limited to 1,000 jerseys, which sold out in just 48 hours. The overwhelming demand from fans was so significant that the brand and manufacturer immediately initiated plans for a second production run to accommodate the local supporters who missed the initial launch.