Walker & Company and Cultural Design
Yesterday Walker & Company’s Bevel released their newest product the Bevel Trimmer. Bevel upped the ante in their goal to become the preeminent company creating beauty and health products for people of color. The Bevel Trimmer allows the company to enter a new market currently dominated by other players while staying true to their original goal. I was immediately impressed with the direction not strictly from a business product perspective but from a cultural one.
Tristan Walker, the founder of Walker & Company has long advocated for a more diverse perspective within the world of technology. That critique has often encompassed the importance of culture playing a role in finding new sources of talent and opportunity in a crowded market. In a Pando article Mr. Walker states
“Most culture in this country is driven by Black culture, whether that's food, music, dance, or anything else. And more recently Latino and Asian culture have driven global culture. Here I live in the most early adopting region in the world, and we know very little about the most early adopting culture. Therein lies the opportunity."
This philosophy is what makes the Bevel Trimmer so interesting. Beyond the call to action in the urban grooming space the design, look, feel and marketing of the Bevel Trimmer is instantaneously culturally relevant. Queensbridge rapper, Nas, is an ambassador for the product and is featured in the new promotional video. Upon watching the video a few things leap out for those who know what to look for. The Bevel Trimmer mirrors the look and feel of an MC’s microphone. This is a homage to the power of the microphone as a tool to express one’s creativity. The barber’s trimmer holds the same power. Linking one of the greatest MCs to the neighborhood barber connects the power of skills, proficiency of your trade, high mastery and self expression all in one fell swoop. Nas is not just the usual celebrity endorsement. His involvement is strong cultural currency as he adds unvarnished validity and ties the product together in authentic iconography. Hip-hop and barbershops go hand in hand. In the early days of hip hop aspiring rappers shared their mixtapes in barbershops to build an audience. The barbershop experience is a communal one where the haircut is only part of the process. Sharing stories, jokes and arguing (usually about sports and hip hop) go hand in hand with a trip the barber. Jay-Z famously cites this in a line from Where I’m From “I’m from where n****s pull your car, and argue all day about who's the best MC's, Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas”
Nas and Jay-Z continue to be at the center of these barbershop debates, a fact not lost on the Walker & Company team and in turn result in a seamless shout out to their audience.
To keep it simple, the Walker & Company team created a product, and a message that speaks in verbal and visual language of its target audience. By understanding the culture in which they move they were able to craft a message that permeates beyond product and speaks to their entire vision. Understanding culture at a deep level and how it plays in your messaging is mandatory when communicating with people who have more choices than ever. The bullshit meter is extremely high and those brands that think they can get over with communication that merely panders rather than empowers will face a steep uphill battle to win hearts, minds and wallets. Those same companies would be well served to take a lesson from the launch of the Bevel Trimmer and take necessary steps to understand culture and it's relevance in brand position.
Curator of Extraordinary Opportunities
8 年I am a huge fan of Walker & Company Brands, Inc. and the disruption that Tristan Walker is making in this market. Love your write up on it as well Philip :)
Senior Copywriter | Content Designer | UX Writer | Critical Thinker | Grammar Nitpicker ??
9 年Nail on the head. I've been sitting back and watching in absolute awe of what Tristan is doing. Leaps and bounds ahead of the pack. So here for it--cannot wait to see what's next. Thanks for writing!
Chief Strategy Officer at Footsteps Consulting Group
9 年I am appreciative of the author's take of the authority of Tristan Walker newest creation and his emphasis on Bevel's cultural approach to selling (versus the failed old-school urgings of the buy-me-because-I'm-black philosophy). I think that the author is right to point out the power of the hip-hop-related appeal that the marketing is taking. With that being said I am not completely tracking on the author's metaphorical use of hip hop in his evaluation and surface comparison of the trimmer to a mic. I say "completely tracking" because I think that the cultural connection of the trimmer's design goes far deeper than that. While the basis for my position would take far too long to explain in this venue, the Cliff Note's explanation would start with our culture's grounding in spirituality and our calling to be "creators" (and by extension image and style creators) as a form of homage and worship to our Creator. In this vein, the importance of the creation of image and the communications of style as a representation of inner talents/values/purpose is rampant in the everyday life of black folks. We do not dress in a certain way or buy certain cars or use certain brands or groom in a certain way because of whimsy or to do what's new or trendy or "hot." We do so in a deliberate way to send out a signal to the community and the world of what kind of people we are, how unique we are. We, as a people, are the articulation of the phrase "form equals function." And since the roots of this behavior are grounded in our spirituality it affects all of that which we do, how we act, the way in which we think. Given that perspective, for me the trimmer that Bevel has designed is a striking and powerful example of "black design." it's very look in print and in video is the promise of power and excellence in performance. Its look is telling all that you will get what you pay for and look good using it. To say the least this product, at least for me, is a big deal for black people and black capitalists. To use the author's hip hop modality, this trimmer is the mic dropping at the end of show telling other black inventors and entrepreneurs that they have set a new design standard for our community and by extension for the world. Come strong with your next creation or stay home. This is the revolution televised (and digitized).
Great article!
Great article and so well put -- worthy a share. Thank you.