Interview With Ben Velez Of Triple 5 Soul
Technology allows for such an expedited communication of subculture that it has become fairly easy for people to dig far beneath the surface, as well as individuate themselves from mass culture on a much broader level. Consumers are, therefore, way more savvy about design and beyond, which is an exciting milieu to work within!
Mash culture, youth not watching TV, cell phone culture, etc, etc. How does a brand create relevant emotional connection (and just plain old awareness) in this changing landscape?
I think for many brands there is a continuing desperation to stay on top of this. I can only speak to its relevance to how we market our brands. It is really a clichéd and expected answer, but this simply has never been a problem for T5S as we remain an independent brand composed of cultural adherents and creators, so our collective natural interest organically follows these cycles as it’s how we all live ourselves. Shit, I don’t watch TV, listen to the radio (other than AIR AMERICA) etc my damn self!
About being an ‘independent brand composed of cultural adherents and creators’ – how do you recruit for such a specific fit?
Honestly, we continue to work with young talent from the ever-growing community. It’s not so much a recruitment tactic as it is an organic process. Either the candidates that walk through the door are like-minded or not.
Any brands that catch your eye? Why?
Um, well, being that this is a brand/marketeering site, I’ll be honest. I’m sort of immune to branding and marketing. And if I’m not entirely, I try to be! That being said, I tend to really not get swept up into specific brands. Strictly 501s and old Clarks for me, please!
Apple is the one exception – not because of marketing but because of my (guilty pleasure) technology addiction…
How does T5S specifically connect with its audience?
It’s always been a music and art-driven brand and continues to be. We just keep integrating great music and art events and make certain that our constituents are as much invited and welcome to take part as industry folk.
On specifics, T5S is getting ready for our first annual SOUL SESSIONS Tour – hitting our major markets with a host of T5S music friends/talent (Hollertronix, Platinum Pied Pipers and a slew of others) in support of F05 season. Continuing to put out seasonal limited edition SOUL SESSIONS music series of in the public eye talent doing mixes that are complete departures from their traditional M.O.s
You recently opened a store in Williamsburg? Great party, nice store. How much is the objective there about driving retail sales versus creating a brand experience?
The objective there is really way more about brand experience than it being a profit center. Based on location alone, this shop is not designed to be a wheelbarrow of money – our Soho shop falls way more into this category. We run all of our home events out of the Williamsburg space and, again, mix our crowds between neighborhood fans and the industry, intentionally.
You’ve recently started to develop two new brands in the US – Boxfresh (US distribution) and Subscript – is this a defensive move?
I wouldn’t call it so much a defensive move as much as an offensive one! Honestly, T5S has a great deal of brand equity and is not in danger of going anywhere soon. However, we have made the collective (and oft times more challenging) decision to focus on growing our business to be more involved with what we consider to be smaller and more alpha streetwear boutique accounts. With this decision was the obvious hand-in-hand understanding that if you are not pushing your brand to chase all of the monster multi-door accounts, your brand retains cleaner distribution and image for a lot longer but also has a self-imposed glass ceiling in terms of ability to grow. Taking on Boxfresh and Subscript is not so much a defensive move as much as it is a part of the realization that, in order to keep T5S where and how we want it, we will need to rely on other revenue streams to allow it the safety to remain as such.
OK, so let’s say I am a brand manager working for a large well known brand who in the past did well selling to the young adult market. Now, my target market seems to even rejecting the idea of my brand. Any tips on how I reconnect with the audience?
Reinvention seems to be the key. Reinvention via new / diffusion lines and projects. Most importantly is to simply stay in tune so that such things don’t end up needing damage control! But when necessary, having been in this position in minor-league scenarios at other jobs, my instinct has been to pull back visibility (rather than continue to communicate the wrong message), thus creating some mystery and wonder about current activities, and when ready to re-enter the public eye with new blood/branding/product, it actually becomes a welcomed thing instead of a forced one. This is all very much hypothetical and not grounded in the actual facets that make such situations unique…
Thank you.
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| TOPICS: | Fashion |
| TAGS: | ben velez, Youth Marketing |
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