Rocawear Re-Imagines Its Brand And What It Means For Women
July 12, 2011 - 8:11 am by Niki McGloster
Our most recent Vixen Day Out landed us at the Rocawear Style Suite which featured a preview of the brand's new style! However, among the men's wear, it left us with one burning question: What does these mean for the new women's collection? So we tapped Jameel Spencer, CMO of Rocawear, to explain how the company plans to re-imagine the brand. He chats about the new campaign, how our culture isn't limited to "urban" any longer and who the Rocawear woman truly is.
What is the direction of the new Rocawear campaign?
How we communicate the brand. In the past, you could put an ad with a celebrity in a magazine and reach your customer. Now, we are creating Youtube videos, launching a social networking campaign on Facebook and our own blog Roc4life.com, as the direction of the current campaign is a call to action challenging customers to re-imagine the Rocawear brand. We realize Rocawear’s a brand that’s been in existence for 11 years, catering to a customer that thrives on newness; there can be some natural brand fatigue. That said, we feel like we have done an incredible job of evolving the brand and our product as our customer has evolved, and we are challenging people to experience our evolution.
http://youtu.be/xs-4Jriltps
Specifically, what is being done differently in a creative sense to stray away from the "urban" stigma?
The notion of “urban” as a negative stigma is more semantics than anything else. Nike is a brand that reaches the same customer as Rocawear, yet no one is eschewing the negative stigma that customer is shining on them. Ultimately product is king and how that product is communicated in terms of marketing is a close second. When the brand was launched, product placement in music videos helped make the brand successful. Fast forward 10 years later, the internet is a big part of our media mix. What remains consistent is the movement the brand represents: The sense of empowerment and discovery of the finer things in life as a result of that empowerment. People love Rocawear because it comes from a guy who is the American dream personified, and their appreciation of how Jay-Z realized that dream on his own terms. If that’s urban, then we’ll embrace that all day. I don’t think culture works that limited anymore today. It’s more inclusive and our product and campaign is executed with the necessary taste level to communicate that inclusive nature.
In your words, who is the Rocawear woman?
The Rocawear woman is a young woman who is working towards making her mark on the world, but like all women, cannot clearly be defined by any short amount of words. She comes from a diverse number of backgrounds but is bound together by the universal fact that she likes to be seen and is unapologetic in that regard. She can run the gamut of rocker chic to sexy preppy as she will not be put into a box. She is similar to the Rocawear man, in that she plans to make her mark on the world on her own terms.
What Rocawear pieces are must-haves for women?
The Rocawear denim in general is consistently a must-have for women as well as everything from the Rocawear/Hellz Bellz collaboration. Murder!
Ladies, can you rock with Rocawear's new image?
