THE NEW YORK TIMES BUSINESS TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2010

ADVERTISING

It's All About }O.u,

AndMillions orOthers

By STUART ELUOTT

MORE than {our decades ago, the Mamas and the Papas advised, "j\1iJ,ke your own kind of music.~ Since then, exllortations

. by advert isers to express individuality­by, oddly ('nough, consuming mass-market products - have grnwnlouqer.

An example I<it how the mainstream is becoming a collection of niche streams is a campaign to be an­nounced on 1\lCsday by the cap maker New Era, which carries tJw theme "Fly your own flag." Tbe campaign, by a Ncw Yorl{ agency named Brooklyn Brothers, salutes" flag bearers," as it calls achievers who march to their Own drununers (while, of course, wearing New Era cups).

In print and online ads, consumers will be urged to "Start your own movement," "Raise your own game," "Blaze YOllr own trail," ~Create your own world," USing your own song~ and "Make your own grand entrance" - just <Ibout everything except uBe your own brand" and "Grow your own vegetables.~

The cmnpaign has a budget e~timatedat $10 mil­Hon through the end of next Yf'nr. Tbat is more than the combined total of $6.1 million spent by New Era in 2U08 and 2009 to adverUs€ in maior media, accord­iug to the Kantar Media unit of wPP.

"It's about building credibility as a global life­style brand:' said Christopher Koch, chief executive at the New Era Cap Company in Buffalo, after being ..a headwear brand for 90 years" and a clothing and accessories brand for five years.

"The authc:n II city our product has won on the field of play" as a lending brand of basebaJ I apparel, he <tdded, underpins the appeal to COllsumc:rs who have not come any closer to a stadium than a seat in front of a TV set.

Research found that "an underlying theme for our product is that pf::ople wear it to express them· selves," Mr. Koch said. But it may seem paradoxical til at people seek to €xpress how unique they are by wearing a cap that multitudes of other people also wear.

As Mr. Koch explained it, wearing a New York Yankees cap emf mean you are" (l Yankees fan, you live in the Bronx, you're a fan of New York or you like Ule color.~

"And for a kid in Japan," he said, "it could be \Americana:'

• To further enable self-expressIon, New Era also

sells caps in myriad styles in an approach known as mass cltstomizatioll or personaJiz::Ition. A search on Monday of the New Em Web sit'e (newe.Facap.com) found 128 types of Yankees caps, including some - in hunter's plaids, "melanic cotton" and "lntergalactic~

- that might have given Babe Ruth a pain to riva~ his 1!l25 beUyache heard round the world.

New Era has tded "to figure Ollt how many vari­eties" of caps it sells, Mr. Koch s'aid, and based on "the sheer volume of (,:ustom orders," he estimates the number "in the billions."

"Our customers gravitate toward something they can put on that they've seen on no one else;' he added.

That spirit inruses a two-,[ninute brand film-a k a a l.ongish cummercial - that wfll be seen initial­lyon nuweracap.com amI Web sties like Hypebeast, IGN', Nicekicks, Sneakenreuker <ind Vieeland. The film will also be· shown on monitors in the Seven New Era Flagship retail stores.

. The .clip depicts ene.rgetic young men :md. wom­en dancing, :>inging, exercising and b~ing artist.ic, surrounded by cubes that bear phrases m<e "Blow your own mind," "Build your own bandwagon," "ToOL your own horn," .. Beat your own path" and "Begin your own era" - a1l, needless to say, building up to the'" Fly your own flag" theme.

The prin~ ads, to appear in pUblications like The Fader, Nylon Guys, Spin, Vibe and XLR8R, present flag bearers and New Era orand ambassadOrs like Curti·s GranderS011, a Yankees outfielder, whose ad S<LYS "Raise YO~lr own game; Sam Adams, a rapper known for the song "I Hate College," whose ad says "Write your own hjstory~; and Mason Granger, a spoken-word poet, w.hose ad says "Start your own movement."

Brooklyn Brothers has work,ed fo~' New Era since October and was named the global creative agency of retord in June.

New Era "could be an American icon around lIte world,just as much as Levi's and Nike," said GUy

Curtis Granderson, top, ce~ter fielder f~r the New York Yankees, is featured in a new ad campaign for New Era caps. A jewelry deslgnet·, Osamu Koyama, center, is also featured in the camp"ign, whi-ch bears the slogan "Fly your own flag" and will include a two-minute video, above,

Barnett, creative partner at Brouklyn Bruthers, as part of a fi festy Ie composed or "a cultural mash-up of skating, hip-hop, baseball and sports that is very American in its outlook."

• The campaign is risky if consumers perceive it .

as. New Era telling them what to wear, how to behave or what fS hip.

"The way we position it is that the brand is de­fined by the people who wear it, not by tile company,~

Mr. Barnett said. "The people are the brand." Barkley, an agency in Kansas City, Mo., IS han­

. dUng tasks for New Era tha~ inolude· a redesign of the Web site; the new version is to be introduced Oil Sep.t.13.

"'We saw a tremendous' passion for the brand," said Mark Logan, vice president and managing di­rector for interactive at Barkle~, as demonstrated by "people posting videos of their cap collections on You1\Jbe and photo'S on Fli'ckr."

The redesigned :>ite will blend "branded content, commerce an.d cons~lmer-generated contcutt he added, in a miX that "can cha.nge from day to day."

New Era hopes !O add television commercials and outdoor ads to the campaign next year.