A week after Clarks Originals unveiled its
Clarks and Jamaica marketing documentary, The Gleaner newspaper has reported that all is not well with the British footwear company financially, resulting in it “launching its new Dancehall campaign aimed in part at reconnecting with Jamaican ‘cult’ consumers, as a way to regain lost sales”.
In The Gleaner report titled
Clarks Targeting Jamaica’s Cult Buyers, business reporter Steven Jackson quoted Clarks former CEO Giorgio Presca as saying in the company’s annual report, that the Clarks has “lost connection with the main customers and accounts in our key wholesale markets”.
“Consumers lack emotional affinity with our brand. People today buy a brand because they feel that the brand represents them and has created an emotional connection with them,” Presca said.
2 hours ago
Clarks Originals unveiled the full 10-minute mini-documentary today on YouTube, after initially announcing on its Instagram page on Sunday that the video, which features Koffee, Protoje, Sevana, Lila Iké, The NoMaddz, England footballer Raheem Sterling, and British artist M1llionz, would be released this Friday.
On Sunday, the company drew the ire of particularly the Gaza Nation, after they previewed snippets of the documentary, with well-known Clarks booty champions Vybz Kartel, Super Cat, Popcaan, and Jahvillani “missing in action”.
Today’s move seems to have been undertaken in a bid to appease Dancehall fans who accused them of disrespecting the men who are behind the popularity of the footwear and high sales among Jamaicans across the world. Kartel’s name and song were mentioned a few times by Koffee, Lila, Sterling, and Protoje who also made several historical references to the boots in the Dancehall space.
Clarks Originals drew the ire of some Jamaicans after they previewed snippets of a new documentary dubbed
Clarks and Jamaica, which seems to be devoid of Dancehall artists responsible for making the brand famous in Jamaica, like Super Cat, Popcaan, Vybz Kartel, and Jahvillani.
In an Instagram post this morning, the British footwear company shared a teaser that highlighted non-Dancehall artists, all of whom, with the exception of the duo The NoMaddz, have never paid homage in song to their brand.
The footwear company had noted on its Instagram page that: “to celebrate this special relationship, we spoke to some of the biggest names in Jamaican culture to find out what Clarks means to them”.
March 17, 2021 05:40 PM
British footwear brand Clarks Originals says it will be engaging in endorsement deals with Reggae and Dancehall artists to promote its new ‘Jamaica Pack’ line, which is set to be officially be launched in April.
The revelation and assurance came from the company yesterday after it was taken to task by several Jamaican skeptics, who said they hope it was not seeking to exploit
Brand Jamaica for selfish gain, by unveiling the line which carries the Jamaica Trek, Desert Jamaica and the Jamaica Bees and which is part of their Spring 2021 collection.
Instagram user, gordonmckenzie56, wrote: “Nice, now sign some Reggae and Dancehall artists to endorsements…Thank you.”