For Us, Forever - marketing of urban apparel maker FUBU - Statistical Data Included - Interview

Brandweek, Oct 11, 1999 by Sloane Lucas

IN AN URBAN-APPAREL SEGMENT WHERE SUCCESS CAN BE FLEETING, DAYMOND JOHN IS ORCHESTRATING ADS, ENDORSEMENTS AND LICENSES TO ASSURE FUBU OF A LONG-TERM PRESENCE.

Though FUBU co-founder and CEO Daymond John says it's been told far too often already, who can resist repeating the tale of a veritable hip-hop Horatio Alger who started a clothing company by stitching knit hats in his Queens, N.Y., basement and selling them on street corners, and after seven years had nurtured it into a broad apparel provider that is available in 5,000 stores and generating an estimated $350 million in wholesale sales?

But that can wait until later. More pertinently, the founder of "For Us, By Us" has been nominated as a Brandweek Marketer of the Year by virtue of the fact that he is running his company in a manner that suggests it will be around for another seven years. In a segment with more than its share of splashy, edgy successes, FUBU has differentiated itself by aligning itself for long-term success: hedging on styles, like baggy jeans, that it knows won't be around forever, adding significant licensing partnerships, including the National Basketball Association, and strengthening its commitment to advertising and marketing without, so far, losing the spirit of a homespun startup.

John, now 29, is "aggressive, hard-working and very focused," said Russell Simmons, the hip-hop legend and founder/CEO of clothing line Phat Farm. "Daymond is a great marketer, and I believe he knows his community. In the past, there have not been great executives who have had the opportunity to exploit their own community, and what their own community brings to the world.

"Daymond is in a great position to evolve as his audience does," Simmons added. "He knows the core and he knows what makes them tick. He doesn't want to lose them He's really smart and sensitive to the people who are the most trend-setting."

FUBU's success in parlaying home-made hats into a major label within the $5 billion hip-hop fashion market is due in no small part to nimble marketing efforts which have run the gamut from orchestrated graffiti blitzes to cultivating spokespeople who connect with FUBU's broadening demo.

The celebrity connections go back to 1993, when FUBU's four founders welcomed their first and still "official" spokesperson, hip-hop artist and entertainer LL Cool J, who, like Simmons, hales from the same Queens neighborhood as John. LL Cool J appeared wearing FUBU clothing in the brand's first print ad, in hip-hop magazine The Source, and his clout later got a FUBU hat on TV, in a Gap commercial, for which the rapper had penned a little ditty that, unbeknownst to The Gap, included the phrase, "For us, by us, on the down low"--a veiled nod to the FUBU line.

In addition to LL Cool J, a parade of hip-hop's elite have helped build the brand: directors Hype Williams and Billy Woodruff, singers Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Boys II Men, Fugees and Sean "Puffy" Combs, as well as athletes such as Tim Hardaway, Simeon Rice, Kevin Garnett and Terrell Davis.

The celebrity support has been balanced by guerrilla marketing efforts that convey a sense of street savvy One early tactic: painting store gates to display the FUBU logo when they were rolled down after the stores closed. Lately, FUBU has had a van navigating the East Coast offering FUBU fans tickets to a huge Labor Day bash in St. Martin in the Caribbean. And in September, Macy's, a key FUBU retailer, set up interactive window displays to tout FUBU's sponsorship of Y2G.com, a youth-targeted Internet portal.

Despite the brand's progress, John said fresh approaches to marketing are just as crucial now. "We still look for the next vein to do it in, not [always] the normal channels ... even though we do go through the normal channels," he said, "But we're always looking for something different."

The company keeps its print ads constantly varied in approach and placement, and broadened the media mix to TV advertising on BET and MTV last year.

With the company having achieved visibility and retail credibility, John is moving quickly to position it for a long-term role. His latest coup: being tapped by the National Basketball Association this year to produce a line of jerseys, shorts, warm-up suits and sweater vests emblazoned with the logos of the 29 teams. Industry reports put revenues from the NBA products somewhere in the $25-50 million range.

Although some considered that a risky step, given the softness in athletic licensing, John has no reservations. "I mean, our consumers [are] waiting for stuff like us to come into the NBA market because they understand that we're young kids who can probably understand basketball. They can identify with us. We're the kids from the street."

The expansion of FUBU's licensing programs has come as another step toward brand ubiquity. Industry execs figure that $150 million, or nearly half of FUBU's annual revenues, derives from such licensed products as Jordache ladies' and girls' wear, La Rue men's and women's bags and Wittnauer watches. Licensees are pending in fragrances, baby products and other segments.