Set outside a pawnshop, Weller and Kane stand on an urban sidewalk similarly dressed In grey suits, starkly captured In the black and white Image. This Image, used in print ads from magazines to bus stops to billboards captures perfectly Variants’ urban, metropolitan aesthetic. As well as print, Barbados has teamed up with advertising agency YARDS Executive Creative Director Stephen Newlywed to create exclusive content, short films, which are hosted on Barbados’ website, as well as social media channels like Faceable.
Namely, Weller and Kane patronizing the pawnshop for odd-ball Items. A men’s fashion house, the campaign is promoting a reconfiguration of an existing apparel line with the aim to further Variants’ market penetration. Spanning three collections, John Barbados, John Barbados U. S. A. , and Converse, the products are physically offered in select retail shops, including solo boutiques. One such shop located In New Work’s Lower East Side. The former site of music club Scab’s, a calculated move to further their brand awareness and (arguably) add to its attraction.
Additionally, the boutique on Bowers offers collections of vintage vinyl records, vintage audio equipment and collectible music books curates by Variants, himself for customers’ perusal. Their target market Is men In their early twenties to mid forties. With an appreciation for music, fashion, and their combined aesthetics. Moreover, given that their suits fall within the $1,000 price range, their demographic has a certain amount of disposable Income. However. What the campaign seems to be targeting Is an ethos rather than locking into a silo.
According to a “whole demographic research thing” the company undertook recently, men ranging from teens to sexagenarians were accounted for. I feel, interestingly, that this wide range of reported age response may be a key Implies behind the marketing campaign featuring Weller and Kane. The Idea of using recording artists in their campaigns is nothing new touch Barbados, who teamed up with Ryan Adams and The Cardinals in 2007. However, which I find most interesting, Is how this campaign was conceptualized to accomplish including an older anemographic and potentially new development for the company.
The idea seems to be mirroring, I’m sure not entirely by accident, the current state of technology where people in their sixties are Just as tapped into a life online as their children, if not grandchildren. Even something as derisive as rock n roll, given the current generations, is becoming more of a bridge than a barrier. While this is a reconfiguration of an existing product, I. E. Men’s apparel, what I found most interesting is how they conceptualized this marketing campaign from their others in the past, even closely elated in content.
