The “J Crew Crew” Edition

On 2014, Vimeo ideas, and fun on the Internet

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An interesting concept from WITI reader Daniel:

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Colin here. There’s been a kerfuffle about some of the recent J.Crew advertising. The recent campaign with Emma Chamberlain leveraged a weird aesthetic to market a “tiny rollneck sweater.”

Per Feed Me:

The glitchy imagery and millennial pink 8 Bit font makes me curious why J.Crew’s marketers think there is this desire from customers for some kind of Y2K computer game nostalgia from the brand. It feels like the digital sound effects and glitches were decided after the shoot happened.

This was a campaign for a product, so it’s not like they were taking the entire brand that direction. But it did feel a little thirsty, and not super aligned with the other elements of what they have going on.

Why is this interesting?

The one redeeming factor from this otherwise forgettable campaign was that it reminded me of a user-generated campaign from long ago: J.Crew Crew!

In short: it was a series of lo-fi comedic skits that used the J.Crew catalog to narrate a mystery based on the characters within. And it was a brilliant concept. The models in the catalogs solved murders while trying to sell you cable-knit sweaters. It got passed around avidly on the Buzzfeed-era internet.

A dive through Vimeo leads me to Meghan O’Neill’s archive, and I firmly believe this was the best one. (Might want to turn the volume down for the intro.)

The year they were released, 2014, coincided with an impeccable run for the brand. Mickey Drexler and company were putting out stuff that was firmly in the zeitgeist; they had the sainted Liquor Store (RIP) down in Tribeca, and also some great collabs with Belstaff and others. Jenna Lyons was bringing her wide range of references, seen in this Vanity Fair profile about her office at the time.

Obviously the skits were incongruous with how tight the brand felt, but they also just made me smile at a more raw, fun time on the internet, where a Vimeo account, some slapdash editing, and an actual concept were enough. And I’m sure the videos made the rounds in their 770 Broadway offices, even if the brand stewards never engaged!