Harry Rosen has a new creative agency, though the relationship has been in the works for years.
The high end Canadian menswear retailer is now working with Isaac Reputation Group, formerly known as Unitas, to handle advertising, promotions, loyalty and ecommerce.
While the relationship is officially new, Harry Rosen has been working with Isaac’s creative partners Bob Goulart and Dave Hamilton for 20 years. The pair worked on the brand outside of Grip, which they left earlier this year to join Unitas founder Mike Robitaille to relaunch the agency.
With the duo overseeing advertising for the brand, Harry Rosen earned attention for sometimes cheeky creative featuring well known Canadians, though most recently they poked fun at American presidential candidate Donald Trump.
However, Goulart said Harry Rosen was an ideal client for Isaac not because of its approach to advertising, but because it adhered to the Isaac’s “stand for something great” mantra.
“A company is not made by its advertising,” said Goulart. “It is about the culture you create with a company.” Harry Rosen has a culture of high quality clothing and great, personalized customer service.
They don’t need to change that in what has become a more competitive and complicated market, just reinforce it, he said.
At one end of the competitive spectrum, younger consumers just getting into tailored clothing might be attracted to online offerings at a lower price, but as they mature they tend to gravitate to a brand like Harry Rosen. “The quality and craftsmanship just isn’t there,” said Goulart of some of the lower cost brands. “Harry [Rosen] used to say that the most expensive suit is the cheapest suit.”
At the other end of the spectrum, new up-market brands may be arriving in Canada, but they’ll never be able compete with Harry Rosen’s personal clothing advisors.
While many retailers today are interested in delivering better and more customized in-store experiences through technology, Harry Rosen has built its brand on long-term personal relationships between regular customers and clothing advisors who know the many important details that need to be taken into account when choosing the right clothes for the customer. “That comes from [founder] Harry Rosen when he started the store,” said Goulart. “He used to keep customer profiles on little cue cards.” One of the challenges Isaac is helping with is recreating that high-touch customer experience in a virtual setting. “It is a difficult proposition to translate that online, but it can be done,” said Goulart.
In recent years, Hamilton stepped back slightly from the brand, still contributing at a strategic level, while Goulart continued in a more hands-on role, working with marketing director Sandra Kennedy. Those contributions will be expanded and improved by drawing upon the agency’s growing creative and strategic resources.
“All retailers are undergoing tremendous change with new competitors coming to Canada and the ever increasing demand for excellence,” said Larry Rosen, chairman & CEO of Harry Rosen, in a release. “We’ve always been in good hands with Bob, but there was comfort in learning that under the Isaac banner they now have the scale, bench strength and digital chops necessary to meet the new demands facing Canadian retail.”
