Decoded: Rihanna’s Brand is Definitely Not ‘Anti’ Profitability

PUMA PROFITABILITY

Appointed as creative director of the footwear brand late in the fall of last year, Rihanna struck footwear gold, netting a reported seven-figure salary. Her $120 Creeper shoe sold out within hours of its September 2015 release, and were re-issued only to sell out again. Another sneaker, the Puma Eskiva Mid, retailed at $110 at its October 2015 launch, have been worn by popular celebrities, including Kylie Jenner, and have been top sellers.

After Rihanna was officially placed in a women’s creative director post, Puma reported that its overall sales grew to €772.7 million (more than $850 million U.S. currency) during the second quarter of the 2015, an increase of 7.6%, and though some of that is attributed to their investment in the world’s fastest man alive, Usain Bolt, Rihanna’s popularity and viral sales-driving factor is sure to have contributed to those numbers.

“Rihanna has a fantastically consistent track-record,” said Adam Petrick, Puma’s global brand and marketing director, in a New York Times interview. “She has been at the top of her game a long time. And I can say from personal experience she has a desire to improve and that is what we are about.”