Listening Blog Post: Justin Mensinger

 

   

 

  Justin Mensinger is an apparel designer with his own clothing brand. His clothing brand is named after himself (Justin Mensinger or JM), and he mostly makes one of one pieces. This means the pieces he creates are one of a kind, hand made by him. The exclusivity of having an article of clothing that no one else will own makes his products worth much more to a consumer that is very into fashion/ street wear culture. The reaction from people who follow his work is overwhelmingly positive.

 

JM's value proposition is to create unique, fashionable clothing that is still durable, for people that want something no one else owns. Most of the comments on his Instagram page are very generic responses like "dope", "sick af", or a fire emoji. However, the comments that specify what people actually like about his products usually refer to his overall designs and patch work. Something that I find more interesting are the types of people responding to his more recent work. King Louie is a Grammy nominated writer and Queen Mars is a fairly popular R&B artist. This recognition from more influential people is great for his brand and shows an immense amount of growth.  

The marketing aspect of Justin's brand is what I find to be the most compelling. He does have social media accounts for his brand, but outside of that his marketing is mostly word of mouth. Mensinger expands his brand by collaborating with other well known designers and has an occasional giveaway raffle. However, the biggest draw to his brand is that he lets the clothing speak for itself. The biggest marketing issue I see is that the brand is slow to grow. I'm not sure it that is a bad thing though, considering JM one of one clothing is handmade by Justin himself. Increasing demand might overwork him and if he hired other designers, he might lose the staple of his brand. I have yet to see a negative review for any of his one of one pieces. I imagine that the only complaints he gets are about sizing issues, which he takes returns if the product is undamaged.

Justin Mensinger isn't very responsive on social media. Though, all of his responses are positive, I've noticed his responses are more targeted towards the person who is commenting, rather than what the person is saying. For example, King Louie only commented a fire emoji, but since he's semi famous Justin replied to his comment. If I was the brand manager for JM I'd encourage more interactions with fans. In particular those who are commenting more than the generic positive response. 

What I took away from this project was that, in terms of marketing, sometimes less is more. Justin managed to grow his brand without much advertising and simply by emphasizing the uniqueness of his products. He also doesn't over post on social media which probably keeps more followers. I also learned just how much knowing your audience will help you to grow your brand. I loyal fan base will spread your brand via word of mouth.