The Story is Being Written Beneath Your Feet

Jul. 10, 2023

Last Sunday, July 2nd, a new chapter in the history of the legendary football club Olympique de Marseille was written beneath the feet of around twenty young players from Marseille. Olympique de Marseille’s two new jerseys for the 2023/2024 season were unveiled by PUMA during a tournament that brought together players aged 10 to 12 from FC La Castellane. 

The activation, conceived and produced by the agency LaFourmi for PUMA, took place at the summit of Les Riaux, amidst the limestone rocks of the port L'Estaque and the Mediterranean Sea. 

A competition – 20-minute matches, 2 semi-finals, a final, and a third-place playoff – with 24 players, branded in PUMA from head to toe, fervently followed by the coaches of the Football Club de la Castellane 

Fervor reigned on the pitch as well, where, to the surprise of onlookers, the 2 new PUMA jerseys for the 2023/2024 season were gradually revealed. As the young players played, tackled, attacked, and defended, the paint on the field faded away, unveiling an epic mural in the club’s colors. 

Beneath their feet, the new home and away jerseys emerged, in a painting where they were worn by deities of the land and sea, echoing the origins of the city of Marseille. 

PUMA and their agency LaFourmi created the first jerseys to be unveiled through the passion of an entire community, on the specially-prepared pitch, writing a new chapter in the Club’s history...

To add to the excitement, the event was set to the beats of DJ Andyman, a renowned Marseillais DJ, and hosted by Taylor Sossa. In between matches, the audience enjoyed a high-flying demonstration by Mélody Donchet, a six-time world champion in freestyle football. 

 Antoine Cretenet, PUMA's football brand manager emphasized:

"We decided to create a very daring event, something different from what we usually do for jersey reveals. We wanted to create something that engages the Marseille community in an event that we did from A to Z with the agency LaFourmi. We brought children from La Castellane, a club supported by the OM Foundation, to this PUMA tournament. We covered the mural with a special paint. The more that children played on the field, the more they unveiled the mural and, consequently, the jerseys."

 

Clement Cimarro, Creative Director of the LaFourmi agency explained:

"We wanted to find a creative mechanism in which the role of the young players from Marseille was paramount. They are the heart of the city and the club. And this field that we built is also a reflection of the spirit of Marseille: the more passion is expressed on the city's fields, the more the passion for OM (Olympique de Marseille) is revealed." 

 

The new jerseys are now available in stores and will be worn by the Olympique de Marseille team during the preparation matches in July. 

The Home jersey, in white, named "Petra Genesis," was inspired by the colors of the limestone rock that characterizes the Marseille landscape, its outline forged over by time, elements, nature, and history. 

The Away jersey, in blue and named "Mare Nostrum," is inspired by the Mediterranean Sea, its open waters, underwater world, and the maritime charts of fishermen (with "Bonne Mère" [referring to the statue of Notre-Dame de la Garde] as their guardian).