California Apparel News

Marketing to young consumers these days is not for technophobes.

To reach their primary demographic, savvy apparel marketers are tapping into a virtual world of sometimes obscure but popular online communities, blogs and other vehicles that have their main demographic enraptured.

Popularized by the online community MySpace.com, these Web resources can provide the links to attracting new and existing customers to help grow brands and possibly reap rewards for the bottom line.

MySpace now claims more than 100 million members and is considered to be the fourthmost- visited Web site in the country. As it inches further into the mainstream, there’s still a growing community of online resources that also are attracting key target consumers. Among them are Imeem.com, YouTube.com and Facebook.com.

Keeping a check on it all requires that marketers become more savvy and attuned to their customers, said Kenneth Loo, director of marketing for San Francisco–based young men’s resource Blue Marlin Corp. Some have found it tough to break into the somewhat insular world of the younger consumers.

“You have to get into their spheres of influence,” said Loo. “I’m 30, so I’m outside the demographic, but our designers aren’t. They’re all part of it, so I feed off their knowledge. I’m very lucky to have a good relationship with them where we can share ideas.”

As a result, Blue Marlin deploys its brand objective across the Internet. It uses My- Space as a means for visitors to get a feel for the brand and to network with fans, musicians and celebrities. It features a “Musician of the Month” on the site.

It also uses MySpace and other Web sites to market its growing Five Star Vintage line, which skews more to the 16 to 28 crowd, which is slightly younger than the primary Blue Marlin customer. It uses YouTube for visual marketing and sites such as Imeem as almost online press kits, Loo said. The company posts press releases on the site, as well as images of celebrities wearing the brand. On YouTube, the company recently aired a behind-the-scenes look at its Five Star Vintage ad campaign, featuring rapper and newly signed endorser Kevin Federline.

“We received more than 7,000 views in two weeks. That’s amazing, and it’s free,” he said.

Although MySpace has grown increasingly popular, Loo surmised that only a handful of apparel marketers were tapping into these growing Internet sources. “I’m surprised you’re not seeing companies like Levi’s getting more into it,” he said.

MySpace, started by a group of West Hollywood, Calif., entrepreneurs, has recently seen larger apparel brands come to its domain. Victoria’s Secret recently aired its fashion show on the site. H&M is a new member. Brands such as Gravis and Burton have a big presence on the site, as does British label Ben Sherman. MySpace will soon launch a platform that will allow apparel companies to appeal to members more directly through advertising and other projects.

Current advertising on MySpace is unique, Loo said, because it allows companies to fine-tune whom they want to target. “You can target members ages 45 to 55 who live in Oklahoma and are white. I could appeal to 16- year-olds who live in Duluth. It filters everything out.”

MySpace visitors also tend to spend more time looking at profiles, said Ben Sherman marketing executive Dana Dynamite. “We have more than 38,000 views of our profiles. If you look at how that compares with magazine advertising, it’s impressive. And people tend to spend more time looking at a profile than at an ad.”

Aside from its inherent marketing value, Ben Sherman uses MySpace as a way to network with its musician and celebrity fans. It posts a blog that communicates information about store openings and even to seek help. And, Dynamite said, it is expanding its MySpace presence (myspace.com/bensherman13) with a new page for its Evisa brand denim line.