American Aesthetic
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THE LIFESTYLE AMERICAN ISSUE AESTHETIC FAR FROM JUST WATCHES, SHINOLA SPINS OUT AN AMBITIOUS COLLECTION OF ALL-AMERICAN LIFESTYLE PRODUCTS. BY ROBERT KLARA Besides its funny name, timepieces are what first got Shinola noticed. Now it’s becoming known for products like bikes—thanks to Jimmy Kimmel. 22 JUNE 22, 2015 | ADWEEK ADWEEK | JUNE 22, 2015 2323 FEATURE ou had to know your U.S. history to nacular,” explains Peter Clarke, CEO of the at its own name has established a refreshing fully appreciate the gag on ABC’s industrial design and brand strategy firm corporate tone that speaks to the educated, ‘Our stores are a big part of Jimmy Kimmel Live on May 21. Product Ventures. “There’s a kind of playback SHIT FROM SHINOLA afuent target customer base of consumers the marketing,’ says CMO Two contestants, Guillermo and here to an American product aesthetic that aged 30-50. The shit-from-Shinola adage, Bridget Russo; (below) creative Yehya, stood on a set made up to is purposeful and utilitarian, and I applaud BORN AND BRED IN DETROIT, says Russo, “has a familiarity to it. People say, director Daniel Caudill. look like that of a game show, as a them for that.” THE BRAND WANTS TO EXPAND ‘I’ve heard my grandpa say that!’ There’s a shapely assistant presented each The company has big plans. Though it has BY A DOZEN STORES A YEAR. warm, fuzzy feeling about it.” with a pair of luxury products—a produced its coveted watches only since 2012, Russo mentions that the expression— watch and a leather shaving kit. The Shinola aims to have 16 retail stores in opera- which reached its cultural apogee in the sparkly toothed host hit the gen- tion nationwide by year’s end, with plans for 1950s—also recalls “the heyday of American tlemen with the money question: as many as a dozen more each year going for- manufacturing, so for us it was the symbol of “Which of these products is shit, ward. (Shinola is eyeing European markets, America’s manufacturing legacy.” and which is Shinola?” too.) And while the manufacturer produces That’s a legacy Shinola takes very serious- It wasn’t much of a contest really. The goods across a diverse range of categories—it ly. “As a new company with a storied name,” products made of excrement really did look is rare to find a wristwatch maker that also reads its website, “we’re dedicated to the re- Y like, well, shit, which is why Kimmel’s crew produces footballs and dog leashes, as Shinola turn of American manufacturing.” thoughtfully provided large garbage cans in does—the company plans to diversity even In 2012, Shinola set up shop in Detroit’s which to dump them. The contestants both further, developing into a full-fledged life- Argonaut Building, built by General Motors ended up “taking home all this beautiful shit style brand. in 1928. It is there that roughly 100 employ- from Shinola,” the host cracked. “We’ll continue to diversify in categories ees, many of them former auto workers, were As for the maker of those watches, Shi- that feel unexpected,” Russo says. “Hopefully, trained by Swiss brand Ronda to construct nola, the sketch wasn’t just for a laugh: It was in time, people will look at Shinola and think watches Shinola sells for as much as $850— a 90-second plug in front of an audience of of Apple—a great American brand.” comparable in price to a quality Swiss time- 3 million. piece. (The total workforce in the Detroit “We found out that Jimmy Kimmel had THE UPSIDE TO POOP headquarters is around 300.) those stores activated.” Shinola stores host bought a Shinola bike for his wife for her Admittedly, it’s all very ambitious for a compa- Shinola is also committed to partner- events like whiskey tastings and a pop-up birthday, and our agency approached the ny that didn’t even exist five years ago. Shinola ing with component manufacturers that barbershop for Father’s Day. “We really want Kimmel guys and they came up with this con- is owned by Dallas-based Bedrock Manufac- are based in the U.S. For example, Shinola’s people to see the stores as part of the commu- cept,” explains Shinola CMO Bridget Russo. turing Co., the venture-capital concern of en- leather comes from the Horween tannery in nity,” Russo says. The brand had never before played up trepreneur Tom Kartsotis, a college dropout Chicago. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Edwards The marketing budget is limited. Shinola is the famous “Can’t tell shit from and former ticket scalper who went on Brothers Malloy supplies the paper for Shino- estimated to spend some $10 million this year Shinola” joke (in case you haven’t to found Fossil watches and serve as la’s cloth-bound journals. And the frames and with media agency Mediahub/Mullen. Part- heard it, we’ll explain later). But its CEO from 1984 to 2000. Since forks for Shinola bikes are forged at Water- ners & Spade handles Shinola’s creative work. the Kimmel bit “helped commu- relinquishing the chairman’s ford Precision, operated by Richard Schwinn nicate the brand and get it out in post in 2010, Kartsotis has used of Schwinn bicycles fame. DON’T CALL IT RETRO front of people,” she notes. his considerable fortune to fund Every facet of Shinola’s branding evokes The American aesthetic has become such a And yet, Shinola has done a solid his dream of reviving America’s American innovation—from its Wright Broth- well-worn trope that, in a sense, it has pre- job of getting out in front of consum- manufacturing identity. To this ers Limited Edition Runwell bike (which ship, and it puts them into the luxury space in sented Shinola with some difculty. Bloggers ers since it was started up four years ago. Its end, Bedrock has acquired brands like retailed for $2,950, and which sold out) to an aspirational way.” and consumers alike praise Shinola’s “retro” luxury products—which include wristwatch- Filson, which began making clothing for out- its Bluetooth player with the Gramophone Shinola’s timing is spot-on, according to look, while Nordstrom, which carries the es, leather bags and belts, bikes, iPhone cases, doorsmen in Seattle 118 years ago. speaker ($400, with a waiting list of buyers). Dan DiMicco, former CEO of steel compa- brand, promotes its “vintage-inspired watch- pocket knives, varsity jackets and more—have Shinola is diferent in that it was created Even the brand’s dual taglines sound like ny Nucor and author of the book American es.” All that drives Shinola’s creative director turned up on CBS, ABC and Fox, in Vogue, from scratch—sort of. Founded as a shoe muscular boasts of Yankee ingenuity: “Where Made. “Americans know how much comes Daniel Caudill up the wall. Vanity Fair and GQ, in Bruce Weber photos, polish maker in Rochester, N.Y., in 1907, the American is made” and “Built in Detroit.” from China today, with all its quality issues, “The only thing that’s vintage or retro and even on the wrist of a former president, brand didn’t become a household name until trade cheating, spying, stealing of intellectu- about the brand is the name,” he insists, ex- Bill Clinton, who is such a fan that he pur- World War II, when, as the story goes, a dis- MOTOR CITY REVIVAL al property,” DiMicco notes. “Americans are plaining that retro design equates to gim- chased 14 of the company’s watches last year. gruntled GI polished his commander’s boots Two generations ago, nobody would have patriotic. They would rather buy American- micky design and is counter to everything his It is unusual for an accessories brand to with poop, proclaiming that he “wouldn’t noticed that a product was made in Detroit— made, but it’s just very difcult to find it.” brand is about. garner so much attention, but Shinola has the know shit from Shinola.” simply because so many were. But the city’s It is not difcult in Shinola’s case, however. Any brand can appropriate an old design, kind of story that feels tailor-made for post- That tale is largely forgotten, but the col- well-publicized fall on hard times (Detroit has The brand has been expending much of its Caudill explains, but “we’re trying to design recession 21st century America. At a time loquial expression it gave way to has lived on lost half its manufacturing jobs and half its energies on building retail locations—which things that feel modern, new, clean and sim- when mass-produced goods from China flood and on. (George Carlin incorporated it into population, and is home to some 70,000 aban- it also sees as its best advertising. Because ple. It’s not about trends; it’s about function the market, Shinola has created a clean, func- his legendary “Seven Dirty Words” routine doned buildings) has spelled opportunity for Shinola positions itself not as a watch maker and how you use it. Things that never go out of tional and authentically American aesthetic in 1972—and, owing to obscenity laws, got Shinola, giving the company not only a ready or an accessories company but, rather, a life- style, that’s what we’re trying to create.” that manages to feel both classic and modern arrested for it.) Shinola the shoe polish com- source of workers but also a central role in the style brand, the company has created retail And create and create.