Lenny Kravitz performing at the Peace One Day concert. Photo credit JP Pariente

On September 19, the Grand Rex Theatre in Paris, packed to capacity, played host to the Peace One Day Concert. Televised by Canal, the concert included a new video on One Day One Goal and puma.peace’s ongoing support of this initiative.

Representatives from both PUMA and adidas were present and sat side by side as Jeremy Gilley, Peace One Day director, announced the PUMA / adidas peace initiative and the funds that it will provide for peace education at schools in Germany and beyond. Well-known French actress Aissa Maiga acted as puma.peace ambassador for the evening explaining to the cheering audience the full scope of puma.peace’s global engagement.

Actress Aissa Maiga as puma.peace Ambassador. Photo credit JP Pariente

An impressive line-up of musicians including Charlie Winston, Ayo, Lenny Kravitz, Kasabian, Olivia Ruiz and Keziah Jones performed live on stage in aid of Peace One Day

Keziah Jones performing at the Peace One Day concert. Photo credit JP Pariente

Ayo performing at the Peace One Day concert. Photo credit JP Pariente

Charlie Winston performing at the Peace One Day concert. Photo credit JP Pariente

It will be a historic hand shake: In support of the peace initiative PEACE ONE DAY the two sportswear companies adidas and PUMA will shake hands for the first time after six decades. As a sign of amicable cooperation, employees of both companies will play football together on Peace Day, 21 September, and subsequently watch the movie “The Day after Peace” by Jeremy Gilley, director and founder of PEACE ONE DAY. These events will be the first joint activities of both companies since their founders Rudolf and Adi Dassler left their shared firm and established adidas and PUMA.

The joint initiative aims at raising awareness for PEACE ONE DAY and the necessity of peaceful cohabitation. adidas and PUMA will also take the message and idea of PEACE ONE DAY into the football stadiums in Munich and Stuttgart through surprise highlights during the halftimes of the German premier league games FC Bayern Munich - 1. FC Nuremberg and VfB Stuttgart - 1. FC Köln on 19 September.

Herbert Hainer, CEO of adidas AG and Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of PUMA

„We at adidas are very proud to support PEACE ONE DAY together with PUMA. We firmly believe that sport can bring the world together. Sport has shown this at countless occasions in the past and we are committed to the positive values found in sport: performance and passion, teamwork and fair play,” said Herbert Hainer, CEO of adidas AG. “I am looking very much forward to our adidas and PUMA football match and I hope that our joint initiative helps to raise further awareness for PEACE ONE DAY around the world.”

Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of PUMA, said: „We are uniting on this day as a commitment to Peace Day.  Our common goal being that our collaboration today will help create awareness for the day. Kofi Annan once said that ‘individuals can make a difference and collectively we can make a major contribution’. I believe that is the case also for companies. And our unity, in support of Peace Day, is a small step in a positive direction as well as an expression of the united power of sport in a world which we are all responsible for.”

The companies adidas and PUMA were founded by the brothers Rudolf and Adi Dassler in the 1940s. Until they separated and went their own ways, they both owned a factory called “Gebrüder Dassler Sportschuhfabrik” where they together manufactured sports shoes – quite successfully as the world records of Jesse Owens proved. In the last decades, adidas and PUMA became worldwide leading brands. Both companies are still based in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

Sportlifestyle company PUMA and the non-profit organisation Peace One Day urge football fans across the globe to tackle violence head-on by organising matches to mark Peace Day on 21 September.

On Peace Day 2009, the organiser Peace One Day and PUMA – through its PUMAVision program puma.peace–want to see matches played in every country of the world. People of all levels of sporting skill can get involved–they just need to get teams together and register the game on www.peaceoneday.org. The first match registered from each country will win a free PUMA fair trade One Day One Goal football and PUMA T-shirt for the captains of each team.

Each match will celebrate cooperation, unity and the power of football to bring people together in peace. The aim of the ‘One Day One Goal’ initiative is to encourage people to play football all over the world, whether in major stadiums, local pitches, in the streets, on the beach, in the office, at home - it doesn’t matter. 

“We are delighted to support the Peace One Day campaign,” Jochen Zeitz, CEO and chairman of PUMA said. “We want to make a contribution to the generation of global peace and we are proud to be a strong and long-term partner of this exemplary initiative.”

Through the PUMAVision program puma.peace, PUMA launched the initiative “One Day One Goal” at the African Cup of Nations in Ghana in 2008 to help raise visibility and awareness of Peace Day with puma.peace being the primary sponsor.  More than 400 football matches took place in more than 180 countries; the Iraqi army vs. the Kurdish Peshmerga; Tijuana vs. California, to name just two.

“I am delighted to be working with PUMA once again on One Day One Goal,” says Jeremy Gilley, founder of Peace One Day. “It represents the perfect opportunity for individuals, communities and nations to rise above violence, conflict and differences to celebrate a shared passion and a common goal.”

Gilley has been campaigning tirelessly towards Peace Day for 10 years–in 2001 he convinced all United Nations member states, resulting in a resolution being passed establishing 21 September as Peace Day–and the event is growing in strength every year.

“One Day One Goal is a vital part of this global event,” says Gilley, “There will also be a peace concert in Paris, educational activities and film screenings to spread the message that peace really can happen.”

puma.peace “One Day One Goal” T-shirts made using Cotton Made in Africa

To support One Day One Goal click here

puma.peace “One Day One Goal” fair trade footballs

Soccer player Samuel Eto’o supports One Day One Goal and Peace One Day

In support of Peace One Day and as a pledge to promote peace through goodwill matches played around the world on Global Cease-fire Day (“Peace Day”), Puma is proud to continue its relationship with this vital organization.

Stemming from the vision and efforts of filmmaker Jeremy Gilley, in 2001 the U.N. passed a resolution to establish September 21 as Peace Day. Last year, more than 100 million people in 192 countries participated in Peace Day activities.

Learn more about Peace One Day at http://www.peaceoneday.org

As a major supporter of the organization Peace One Day, we are proud that Jeremy Gilley has been awarded the Inspirational Award at the Cinema for Peace Gala in Berlin, on Monday February 9th for his documentary “The Day After Peace”. As a major initiative within our puma.peace program, this award demonstrates how important our commitment to Peace One Day is, and shows us all what we can do to make this world a better place.

When Jeremy Gilley had the idea 10 years ago that there could be peace, for just one day, every year, he would have never expected the success of today. He founded Peace One Day and made a film to explore and see if this idea could work, and whether people around the world really wanted it. The documentary is Jeremy’s personal story to date, captured on film, of an individual making a difference and committing to a day of Peace. This documentary has inspired 100 million individuals and school children to make a commitment towards peace. It also convinced Nato, the Taliban and the American Forces to hold a cease-fire for one day, allowing women and children to be vaccinated and immunized in Afghanistan.

Jeremy has shown us that anyone and everyone, can make a positive difference towards a more peaceful world. His commitment and efforts are an inspiration to all of us–whether our efforts are big or small. Jeremy’s film shows it’s worth it… and I ask you to also contribute whenever and wherever possible.

- Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO Puma

Watch “The Day After Peace” trailer here on YouTube

In September 2008, PUMA joined Peace One Day to celebrate the international Day of Peace at two star-studded events in New York and London.

On September 9th, 2008 at the Nokia Theatre in New York City, Grammy-award winning singers Annie Lennox and Bryan Adams performed alongside Natasha Bedingfield and others. These entertainers were featured alongside speeches by international luminaries, video messages from celebrities, and short clips from The Day After Peace.

On September 21st, 2008 PUMA joined Peace One Day in celebration of Peace Day at Royal Albert Hall in London – along with footballers from Premier League Club Tottenham Hotspurs who took the stage to announce the PUMA One Day One Goal football matches played around the world in honour of the day.

This gala event hosted a special screening of The Day After Peace followed by special performances by Annie Lennox, Bryan Adams and John Legend.