ReBuilding the NAMM Brand

Photo By: Andrew Toth

Ron Wallace was the very first fashion designer to sign up with the hybrid fashion incubator called Manufacture NY (MNY). At the time he was doing a clothing line commonly referred to as “Street Wear.”

Ron is a bit of a phenomenon and had notable success early with his very first t-shirt, street wear fashion line. Each t-shirt was fetching $40 per item. When it came time to join MNY, he was immediately adopted by them. That, and he also encapsulates the demeanour of everything you would ever associate with a gentle man.

MNY assists fashion designers by providing a real-time space where designers can work, create patterns, and develop their clothing lines. Additionally, they have access to some of the best resources and materials offered in NY (@ wholesale rates).

Ron’s private label is called NAMM New York. I met Mr. Wallace through MNY when I accepted the position (@ MNY) as the Brand Architect last February. Incidentally, I introduced MNY to one of my contacts who subsequently got MNY a $3.5 million grant through a partnership this past year. That’s a win.

NAMM

At some point, Ron realized that he needed a brand. Brand, the word, means completely different things to different people nowadays. Graphic and web design firms who normally handle corporate identity programs believe that they can add a “mood board”, some copywriting, demographics into the mix and call it a “brand strategy.” They charge out the whazoo for these additional services and according to most Branding professionals, this is subpar. This is pure and plain naïveté twofold:

1. Shame on the design firm for selling this
subpar service at a premium price to clients.

2. Partial shame goes to the uneducated clients
for not knowing exactly what a brand actually is.

(See here: What’s a Brand?)

Well, it had been months before Ron had put together all the resources and capital into developing NAMM New York . He’s decided to place his company through one of BinkNyc’s specialized and neurochemically-charged Brand—IDs. I believe he’s impressed.

Months ago we started working together and have sat, worked and talked over 50-60 hours to date. We are almost 1/2 way through his Brand-ID. He’ll soon be well on his way.

$20K OFF THE CUFF

Before completing the NAMM Brand—ID, Ron approached me with a problem. He wanted to do a fashion show and would need to raise $15-20K in corporate sponsorships to get the clothing line together and join one of the many venues for this upcoming fashion week (Feb. 2015).

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Since Ron is at the MNY incubator, he has access to all the resources MNY has. One such resource is the second largest camera retailer in the entire US, called Adorama. I also helped MNY get into one of their old They are in NYC. I suggested he go to them for the money he needs for the show. He asked: “How?” I answered: “By leveraging the audience and attendees you have and introducing Adorama’s product and service line to them.”

The problem is that there wasn’t enough time to get the money and do the show this February however, we can start preparing for the Fall show now months in advance.

He needs $20K. No problem. We can do this.

Below you will see the type of proposals I design and the creativity involved in creating a win-win situation that is profitable for both Ron @ NAMM New York and Adorama:

FACTS:

Adorama has and sells cameras.

Ron is a fashion designer.

Fashion shows and fashion people use photography and photographers. In this respect, NAMM and Adorama can truly benefit each other. I suggested that Ron design a fashionable merchandise line for Adorama. We are looking to start this merchandising line first with designer t-shirts.

Adorama is owned and run by Hasidic Jews and they know their customer. More importantly, they know the power of merchandising and placing their logo on the shirts of every employee in the store.

We offered Adorama the idea that NAMM be used to fill this gap. Luckily Adorama doesn’t even sell t-shirts to their customers and fans. Ron will make and design the shirts and drive his customer to sell a street wear line from the Adorama web site with the Adorama logo/Corporate ID.

The tee shirts will be $40 each and Made In NY. If we sell 500 t-shirts @ $40 each, that’s $20K. If Adorama sells more than that, they additionally keep the extra sales. We’ve now generated a profit for Adorama. Adorama‘s website already generates 200K hits each week. This is also great exposure for Ron and his clothing line.

It’s a win-win.

Ron will get $5,000 upfront to develop the t-shirts. After he sells 400-500 t-shirts to his and Adorama’s audiences, he gets the other $15K to roll out his clothing line in time for New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in September. Ron also brings value to Adorama by introducing his dedicated audience to the new merchandizing page on the Adorama website where he will sell his shirts.

Ron also gets seen and introduced to 200K NEW weekly viewers who go to the Adorama website and ultimately gets the money he needs to produce a seasons’ fashion line and show.

That’s what Brand building does.

So what have I gotten out of this? Nothing to write home about yet. I’ll jump on board with the normal 15% commission once this deal goes through and I’ve generated some capital for both of them. If they want to place a retainer or deposit down, we can do much more. If they don’t then let’s place a bet of BInkNyc’s skills and you have no risk, with no money down but, we raise the commission to 30%.

REMEMBER: 70% of something NEW is still better than 100% of what you have now. We like when new clients underestimate our effectiveness. They’ll have one hell of a story to tell about us someday.

We will help Ron become a national brand in the coming year or two. This is possible because he is open to the seasoned, tried and tested Brand—ID.
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He attempts these techniques weekly and is given assignments. He sees what is working and what is not. He asks great questions and he’s heading into mastery with results that are very measurable. He’s also hungry for more and reminds me of a new age hero in which great legends and ancient mythology is based.