Branding
Peace,
Recently, I watched a business presentation by Kevin Plank, the founder of Under Armour (UA) regarding the development of his business from selling shirts out of his grandmothers basement 1n 1996 to upwards of $600 million dollars today. During the presentation, Plank spoke about a number of business related issues, but the one that stuck out the most was his views on branding. Plank explained that for many people, Under Armour is synonomous withperformance, which is why consumers are willing to pay a higher price point for the product. By creating the emotional connection with excellence & performance, UA has carved out a strong niche in the athletic wear market. Afterwards, I got to thinking about the role that branding plays in the lives of Black youth when it comes to social & economic pathways… What I realized is that much of the decision making of youth is impacted by how concepts have been branded through media, experience, etc. For example, let’s look at how “Hustling” has been branded in the minds of many youth:
- A fast & glamorous life
- A way to make your own schedule & decisions
- A way to be a ‘Self-Made’ man
- A job that exploits your natural skills & intelligence
- A chance to be part of a neighborhood/community legacy
- A way to subvert systems that don’t appear to work in the best interest of youth
Additionally, when they look at the representatives of the brand, who do they find?
- Rich Porter, Alpo & Fritz (New York)
- Rayful Edwards & Tony Lewis (DC)
- The Chambers Brothers & Mazaradi Rick (Detroit)
- Aaron Jones (Philly)
- Felix Mitchell (Oakland)
- Jay-Z (Even if he eventually went into another business, he infers that it was selling drugs that gave him his start)
- Baby (Same as above)
- Your local neighborhood hustler with a 8th grade education & a Range
Even with all of the info that suggests that it’s not in their best interest (Murder, Jail, Drug Abuse,Broken Families, etc.), many are still motivated to move in that direction. Now let’s juxtapose that with the perception of someone going to school for social services:
- 4-8 years of going to school & being in debt
- Never being your own boss
- Having locked in hours which can’t be changed
- Subject to other peoples’ decisions about your position
- A limited job ceiling
Once again, even we know that the latter choice is more healthy in the short & long term, there is a population that will not choose this route due to the difficulties (The ironic thing is that they write off the obstacles of the drug trade as “part of the hustle”)
The solution? We need to re-brand what it means to go to school, raise a family, work, etc.. (It sure doesn’t help when it always seems like the working man/woman is broke looking to borrow money until the next paycheck). When this is re-branded on a large level, I think that we can begin to see a change in the lens that young men & women wear regarding what it means to be successful (remember, it wasn’t that long ago when the masses of youth didn’t want to be a rapper/mogul). The re-branding has to be part physical & part attitude; We who push these kinds of lines have to be happy with ourselves as well as flourishing economically. It doesn’t mean that we have to be rich & gluttonous; only that we seem to have some level of control over our families & communities’ financial destiny. This war cannot be fought by info alone; we need to get a win in order to look like winners.
