Ripndip Instagram

 

Why are 1.4 Million people following a clothing brand? And what's the controversy behind Ripndip?  

First lets read the comments on there last three posts.

So overall positive comments right? 

A lot of people are saying they bought something, "Copped one." One person says, "What a drop (with a fire emoji)" another person says, "YASSSSS," and another person says they like potatoes.

The reason why I'm writing about Ripndip is because while I was searching for brands that I wanted to write about, I asked my fifteen-year-old brother for ideas. He told me about how Ripndip was becoming increasingly popular at his school, and "Everyone posts it on their stories." Meaning, everyone shares what Ripndip posts on their Instagram, on their own Instagram. 

Personally I do not wear any Ripndip clothes, but I did a little research to see why everyone would be sharing what they post.

As we learned from Seth Godin, being risky is a good thing. Ripndip is in fact so risky that the majority of their posts are rather... explicit. I would be nervous to show them to my grandma. Ripndip being a skater brand, Risky is the type of "branding" they want if they are selling to teenagers. 

Here's an example of Ripndips "Risky" advertising:

As found on there Instagram: A cat getting high off mushrooms, and the same cat going to heaven with his middle fingers up.

Going back to my original question, What's so special about a Clothing Brand? What is Ripndip innovating that makes a cat so attractive to customers? In other words: What is Ripndips Value Proposition? I believe that what they are selling here is a taboo, this brand is edgier than other clothing brands, lets say for example, Nike, or Colombia.

What's the marketing challenge facing the brand?

With very little research it turns out that Ryan O' Connor (One of the founders of Ripndip) was found guilty of beating his wife. This is something very difficult to "Overcome with Marketing" because many people now hate Ryan O'  Connor and think of his actions as unforgivable.

Here are some comments from Reddit:

"Its easy, if you buy rip n dip, you're financial supporting a women beater."

"Him and his buddies started a brand and eventually he just took the entire brand and claimed it as his, pretty scummy stuff."

How did Ripndip get around this? Hush! Hush! Don't talk about it!

Its hard to find any information about this other than on Reddit, In my own research I was not able to find any news articles about Ryan O' Connor. Ripndip fans on Instagram might not know this ever happened. I certainly didn't until I googled, "Ripndip Controversy."

It's a hard question to be asked what I would do in this situation if I was marketing manager. I would probably tell Ryan O' Connor to eat dirt and I would go work for another company. 

What did I learn from this assignment? 

I learned that Ripndip is just like any other clothing brand, they found what makes them unique, they have a defined target market, and everything they do caters towards that target market. They are also very good at using social media. Although they face controversy, if they are getting fifteen-year-old kids to share their posts; that's free advertising, and that - is good marketing.