Not being one to wear tone on tone ties or burgundy shirts with black suits, I don’t spend a lot of time in Men’s Wearhouse. But I had a last minute need out of town once and was pretty impressed by their service. That said, yesterday’s news that they fired their founder and spokesman George Zimmer is astounding.
Apparently, despite a recent company announcement that profits were up an incredible 23%, the board recognized George’s audacious continuation to age. And at sixty four years old, their infinite wisdom deemed him irrelevant in their pursuit of young Millennials. One pundit claimed “An old guy with a gray beard may not provide credibility to the product in the eyes of a 22 or 24 year old.”
Indeed. That could never work to drive a brand to relevance and interest, right Dos Equis?
On the upside, this could be an opportunity to energize the brand with aggressive and compelling new advertising… It could be a time to create new relevance with a new voice and look… This could unshackle the brand and allows it to soar to new, unimagined heights for men’s retail…
So why does it feel so inevitable that we’ll soon be seeing some pretty forgettable men’s fashion advertising?
Goodbye George, it was nice knowing you. Say, would you be open to voiceover work?
By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Olson
Excuse my lack of a more thoughtfully worded reply, but sometimes clients make idiotic decisions.
is that “our” dennis ryan writing?
As cheesy and annoying George Zimmer is/was, he and “You’re gonna like the way you look” was all that company had. Then again, because of cheesy Zimmer, I’ve always avoided shopping at Men’s Wearhouse.
There’s a chance you’re going to like the way you look.