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Brand Marketing
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3 Perks of Working With Pete Davidson, According to Rowing Blazers

Kelsey Donk
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February 1, 2022
3 Perks of Working With Pete Davidson, According to Rowing Blazers
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This is an excerpt from MarketerHire's weekly newsletter, Raisin Bread. To get a tasty marketing snack in your inbox every week, subscribe here.

Preppy streetwear brand Rowing Blazers wanted to do something splashy for their Fall/Winter 2021 collection: their first celebrity campaign. 

But “we didn’t want to feel like we were pulling teeth” for celebrity endorsements, art director Georgia Gray said. They wanted someone who already wore Rowing Blazers. 

One name they couldn’t ignore: Saturday Night Live star and honorary Kardashian Pete Davidson. 

Davidson’s agent responded enthusiastically to their outreach. The campaign, co-starring Ziwe Fumudoh of Ziwe, was a go.

It kept going. In 2022, the brand is still running ads featuring Davidson. 

Here’s a few factors that made it a win for Rowing Blazers, Gray said.

Organic Instagram lift

Before the collection went live, Rowing Blazers previewed it in an Instagram post featuring Pete Davidson smoking a cigarette in the brand’s “Five of Clubs Playing Card.” 

The sweater sold out in every size.

The post also generated some organic social media buzz. It got over 9K likes and 743 comments.

That’s nearly 10X Rowing Blazers’ average engagement: 1K likes and nine comments

Vaguely illegal UGC

People started stealing posters featuring Davidson off the street and posting about it on TikTok.

Rowing Blazers even shared poster “harvesting” UGC. 

 “It is just absolutely insane,” Gray said.

The social media buzz has influenced Rowing Blazers’ out-of-home investment. 

“We were planning on running [the poster campaign] for two or three months, but we’ve continued to keep them up,” Gray said. “The buzz around them has not gone down at all.” 

New traction with Gen Z 

Rowing Blazers’ usual audience is “a little more on the Millennial side versus Gen Z,” Gray said.

That’s why they originally reached out to Davidson: SNL’s audience skews Millennial, too. 

But the timing of Davidson’s highly-publicized relationship with Kim Kardashian means he now has broader generational appeal than, say, SNL’s Colin Jost. 

This campaign has mostly resonated with a younger audience, people in the 20-23 age range, Gray said. 

Our takeaway?

Collaborating with a relevant celebrity — who genuinely likes your brand! —  can extend both a campaign’s lifespan and target audience.

Kelsey DonkKelsey Donk
Kelsey Donk is a writer at MarketerHire. Before joining MarketerHire full-time, Kelsey was a freelance writer and loved working with small businesses to level up their content. When she isn't writing, Kelsey can be found gardening or walking her dogs all around Minneapolis.
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Explainers

3 Perks of Working With Pete Davidson, According to Rowing Blazers

September 8, 2023
February 1, 2022
Kelsey Donk

Davidson isn’t just a comedian and honorary Kardashian — he’s a model who can make a fashion campaign pop, says Rowing Blazers art director Georgia Gray.

Table of Contents

This is an excerpt from MarketerHire's weekly newsletter, Raisin Bread. To get a tasty marketing snack in your inbox every week, subscribe here.

Preppy streetwear brand Rowing Blazers wanted to do something splashy for their Fall/Winter 2021 collection: their first celebrity campaign. 

But “we didn’t want to feel like we were pulling teeth” for celebrity endorsements, art director Georgia Gray said. They wanted someone who already wore Rowing Blazers. 

One name they couldn’t ignore: Saturday Night Live star and honorary Kardashian Pete Davidson. 

Davidson’s agent responded enthusiastically to their outreach. The campaign, co-starring Ziwe Fumudoh of Ziwe, was a go.

It kept going. In 2022, the brand is still running ads featuring Davidson. 

Here’s a few factors that made it a win for Rowing Blazers, Gray said.

Organic Instagram lift

Before the collection went live, Rowing Blazers previewed it in an Instagram post featuring Pete Davidson smoking a cigarette in the brand’s “Five of Clubs Playing Card.” 

The sweater sold out in every size.

The post also generated some organic social media buzz. It got over 9K likes and 743 comments.

That’s nearly 10X Rowing Blazers’ average engagement: 1K likes and nine comments

Vaguely illegal UGC

People started stealing posters featuring Davidson off the street and posting about it on TikTok.

Rowing Blazers even shared poster “harvesting” UGC. 

 “It is just absolutely insane,” Gray said.

The social media buzz has influenced Rowing Blazers’ out-of-home investment. 

“We were planning on running [the poster campaign] for two or three months, but we’ve continued to keep them up,” Gray said. “The buzz around them has not gone down at all.” 

New traction with Gen Z 

Rowing Blazers’ usual audience is “a little more on the Millennial side versus Gen Z,” Gray said.

That’s why they originally reached out to Davidson: SNL’s audience skews Millennial, too. 

But the timing of Davidson’s highly-publicized relationship with Kim Kardashian means he now has broader generational appeal than, say, SNL’s Colin Jost. 

This campaign has mostly resonated with a younger audience, people in the 20-23 age range, Gray said. 

Our takeaway?

Collaborating with a relevant celebrity — who genuinely likes your brand! —  can extend both a campaign’s lifespan and target audience.

Kelsey Donk
about the author

Kelsey Donk is a writer at MarketerHire. Before joining MarketerHire full-time, Kelsey was a freelance writer and loved working with small businesses to level up their content. When she isn't writing, Kelsey can be found gardening or walking her dogs all around Minneapolis.

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