Beyoncé is back at it again surprising the world with her new artistry. This time instead of an album or catchy single right before a Super Bowl halftime performance, Bey’s camp has announced that she is releasing a fitness clothing line titled Ivy Park.
I must say that the Bey branding team is good. They are extremely good at what they do to keep the Beyoncé brand reigning supreme. With this new endeavor, I like how the promotional video begins with Bey discussing how her dad, Matthew Knowles, would wake her up in the morning and encourage her to go running at their local park.
She proceeds to discuss how she remembers “...wanting to stop [running] but she would push [her]self to keep going.” I love how she explains, that through these habitual practices, she became disciplined and she focused on things that inspired and motivated her. Throughout the video viewers see clips of Bey’s past, her working out, and even little Blue makes a cameo. It ends with Bey’s voice over saying the park became a state of mind, her strength and made her who she is today.
I just have to comment on how this is some powerful marketing at work here. I mean just think about it. The clothes themselves are nothing spectacular in the least. From the samples seen in the video, the designs are simplistic and are immodestly branded with the words IVY PARK on them.
Viewers know nothing of the materials used or if they incorporate some new fitness clothing related technology. No, all you have here is Beyoncé telling you a snippet of her life’s story, which is powerful in itself because fans rarely get to hear directly from Beyoncé because she rarely ever does interviews. In the video, Bey describes her disciplined maturation into who she is today. What once was a daunting chore became a place of refuge and an empowering escape.
Bey ends by posing a double entendre question to the audience by saying, “Where’s your park?” She is both asking for them to find or acknowledge some aspect of their lives that provides them with the same type of feelings. The other side of the coin is that she in essence asking the audience, where is your park, as in your Ivy Park fitness gear. This marketing is brilliant because the power that is Beyoncé and rest within the Beyhive alone is strong enough to sell these items, but the backstory is even more powerful. It not only encourages viewers to purchase the products, but it may even inspire people to get motivated to get fit and perhaps accomplish something more.
