“Going to AKOO, a lot of people thought was a slight departure from the track I was on. Jeff explains. “I was coming from these great huge multi-million dollar brands to a 2-year old rapper owned clothing line. So the vision was that I wanted to go somewhere where my efforts will be felt immediately. New Era cap company wasn’t going to get bigger based on my effort. It was already a big brand. Boost mobile wasn’t going to get bigger based on my effort. But going to a smaller brand where my impact and my influence could be much greater, I felt that I could make a huge impact with AKOO very quickly and be recognized for it. And being a part of the team known as the ones that brought AKOO from this level to a higher level.”
To understand this mindset would mean understanding Jeff Belizaire. As the Director of Marketing for AKOO Clothing, Jeff dove into a challenge head first and as it seemed to some, into a pool with no water. However, shortly after taking on the role, the mind behind campaigns for Boost Mobile, new Era, Karmaloop’s inhouse agency Crush, and the TRUTH Campaign, had already begin to change the whole mentality of Clifford ‘TI’ Harris’ creation, AKOO.
AKOO had taken on an early reputation of being known as another “Urban Clothing Company” which wasn’t a bad thing at the moment because the line was focused around TI. However, this would allow the clothing label to be lost in the mix or lines. Realizing the changes not only in Urban fashion, but in music, culture, and the boundless access to line thanks to the internet, Jeff decided that it would be extremely important to rebrand the line.
“Being married and being pigeon hold as just another urban brand was not a positive thing,” Jeff says. “So my goal at the time was to transform the perception of AKOO and move it from urban without divorcing urban. SO we immediately rebranded AKOO as the Urban Americana Collection, which combines the best of American fashion like you would find with LEVI’s with the integration of the core urban sensibility from the street. AKOO represents the best of both of those worlds.”
Jeff launched his career into marketing at a pretty young age after brainstorming an idea with a few friends. He had just graduated college and my three other friends already accomplished advance degrees and master’s degrees in marketing and finance. After a few power sessions, they started a company called PUSH based in Boston and after some growth, opened up an office in New York City. Four years later, the company had grown to a certain point that it just made sense to sell. With a large level of accomplishment before the age of 30, Jeff wanted more.
“I was just constantly hungry,” Jeff explains. “For me the success didn’t really dawn on me until much later after we sold the company. You know my mind is just really focused on the next project and the next experience. After we sold I went ahead and became the director of marketing for (Karmaloop Darca) and negotiated very large contracts and secured clients from Miller Brewing company, Red Bull, The American Legacy Foundation which at the time had a campaign called TRUTH (the anti-smoking campaign), Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and a number of other lifestyle driven brands became our clients on the agency side at Karmaloop.”
With a fully wrapped fall and holiday campaign and leading into the spring season, Jeff and his team at AKOO are excited about the imagery and concepts that have been on display for the brand. They assembled a cast of talent that takes AKOO to the next level. B.o.B. was one of the campaign stars. In his own light, he propelling the movement with music and building his own platform of success by being himself. For Jeff, that’s what AKOO is all about, Being A King Of Oneself…and he exemplifies that. Along with B.o.B. are some other notables that are the “Kings” of their field such as; Curtis Grandinson, Hosea Chanchez, Travis Porter, and Pat Dibbs as well as a few other folks.
Jeff knows all to well about the hindrances in the marketing and advertising world. While many like to point the lack of minorities in the field to race, he explains that the biggest cause of the racial disparity has to do with the lack of knowledge, not in the way of lacking intelligence, but to describe the lack of the understanding of ALL of the avenues in marketing and advertising that exists. However, one thing that will not fly with Jeff is stating that you “cannot” make it due to that factor. In Jeff’s world, there is always a way, there are always options, and there will always be a source for knowledge once you apply your efforts.
“There are a lot of folks, all of the different tentacles of marketing and all of the different positions and applications of marketing,” Jeff explains. “They don’t really teach you that in college. College is built upon teaching people about concept but it doesn’t teach people about the application and the different ways to apply the concepts in real world settings. So I think the biggest cause of the disparity of people of color in positions of power and other positions in general is because we simply done know what those positions are and we are not prepared through our education doesn’t adhere to understand how to access those resources. What I try to do is make sure that every time I talk to people or do interviews is to expose people as to what is required to get to where I am at. Once people know the doors that they can walk through, they can be resourceful enough to walk through those doors.”
So… Since we agree with Jeff that there re some methods that are may not be taught while pursuing your collegiate degree, he agreed to give his five tips to starting a business. If you apply these tips along with drive, faith, and resilience, success is within arms reach. These are things that Jeff practices today so they are things that he know work.
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