Puma hires Quaker City Mercantile (formerly known as Gyro Worldwide) for their biggest television campaign.

Quaker City Mercantile, a Philadelphia ad agency with a reputation for quirky campaigns, has launched German sneaker-maker Puma's biggest U.S. television ad campaign.

The agency created nine 15-second spots, running mostly on cable.

Last year, Puma became sponsor of all of Jamaica's Olympic sports.

"We did a spot with a Rastafarian genie who gives everyone in the country Puma shoes," said Steven Grasse, Quaker City Mercantile's principal. Those ads ran in Europe, Asia and Australia.

The new U.S. spots riff on the theme, showing everyday Jamaicans passing a magic relay baton, sometimes moving at a pace that doesn't interfere with their regular activities.

"It's a way of showing Puma isn't just for athletes, it's for everyone," Grasse said. By contrast, he says, "Nike's stance is usually the athlete as god."