The creative behind the marketing phenomenon SSENSE

At first glance it doesn’t make much sense, and not many people would think that uniting a children’s spelling bee and luxury fashion could work for an advertisement, yet it did. In March 2024, when luxury e-commerce giant SSENSE debuted its now extremely popular campaign, it nearly broke the internet and was lauded as a genius marketing play. Up until then, the brand most known for its curation and helping bring the e-commerce industry into the modern era hadn’t developed its own brand voice yet. The road to cheekiness took roughly two years to pave, led by brand architect Thom Bettridge. Nearly twenty years before the expert joined the company, SSENSE would come to life from the mind of brothers Firas, Bassel, and Rami Atallah, none of whom had any prior fashion experience and each with backgrounds in banking, computer, and mechanical engineering, respectively. Despite the lack of experience, connecting the IRL and digital spaces was the goal from the beginning. A key advantage in the venture was that all three brothers were part of the next generation, that of Millennials, and leaned heavily into that perspective. From day one youth culture (which corresponded to Millennials, at the time) was SSENSE's target audience. Fast forward to 2022, and the brand had taken much of what it learned in its adolescence and reinvented itself to become more ingrained in internet culture, which now belongs to Gen Z's feral humour. 

Bettridge studied philosophy at Columbia University, became increasingly interested in art criticism and developed an ability to find connections even where there seemingly weren't many. His first big break came at 032c, where he saw first hand creative direction in action and eventually worked his way up to Executive Editor before landing a job at Interview Magazine. After joining SSENSE, he tapped into his personal experiences as well as the brand's already well established reputation within the industry, and began flexing his own ability to craft cohesive brand stories. While there wasn’t an immediate change, his early days were spent behind the scenes evolving a new brand voice, starting with the editorial essays, to ultimately push the company further into its anti-heritage heritage. Before Bettridge’s arrival at SSENSE, the brand’s tone of voice was similar to most other luxury retailers: promotional, brand-safe and vibe-less, but propped up by beautiful campaign imagery. Posts on social media mirrored the same tone, with visuals leaning into the cleanliness of e-commerce shots sprinkled with hi-fi campaigns. 

In late January 2023, began a slow but slight shift into the playfulness we have now come to expect from the e-commerce, as a few of their early posts clearly attempted to wade into the conversations and behaviour of their audience, each one getting a little more refined until it became a full part of the strategy. Drawing from how customers were using the platform, what they were buying, and how they were discussing it with others informed the new approach, and eventually SSENSE began trading in beautiful brand campaign imagery for a mix of meme-esque imagery, ecommerce shots and campaigns that felt like a perfect blend of both fashion-forward and social-first commentary.On an episode of What’s Contemporary Now?, Bettridge explained the importance of social media for establishing a loyal customer base: 

«Instagram, TikTok—those are like the digital water coolers of our generation. If you can participate in that conversation, you can have a mind-share, you can steer the conversation, you can laugh with people, you can get people arguing about all the issues of today. Really existing in that terrain constantly and always having something to say, that’s like a big part of keeping that mind-share with audiences.» 

By fall, SSENSE was tapping into new curated partnerships through SSENSE X, where limited edition collabs with ten well-respected brands were exclusively released on their website. Pulling in research from the tech-side and combining it with the fashion conversations online created the phenomenon of “hyper-niche-ification” fashion has come to love today. The opportunity to flex came in November 2023, for their 20th year anniversary, when the brand made their first major OOH (out-of-home) move under Bettridge with a string of minimal ads strategically placed around Canada and the US. Leaning into the power of internet memes and running counter to the trend of well-produced visual ads, the message struck a chord because it represented poignant cultural commentary. Youth culture demands that brands be exceptional storytellers that know how to seamlessly tap into the current social and political moments with taste. The campaign served as an inflection point, cementing a new direction, powered by the audience. «I think what’s really special about SSENSE is that it’s in fashion where a lot of brands and ideas are based around these personality cults. SSENSE is really like an egoless company; we try not to make it about who’s creating the thing. We really try to quietly put something out and just let it speak for itself,» noted Bettridge. 

By March 2024, SSENSE had become a savant of cultural commentary, and the resulting spelling bee x luxury fashion mashup proved to be a no-brainer for Bettridge and his team, serving as yet another milestone in the evolution of the brand's marketing. It is still to be seen how SSENSE will continue to evolve and lean into their audience, especially as hard times have fallen onto the darling industry, once a hotbed for investment and innovation. Last year, the brand slashed some of its workforce as revenue dipped nearly 20%. They aren’t the only ones feeling the heat: brands like Matchesfashion shutting down last December, Farefetch’s perpetual struggles, and Yoox-Net-a-Porter continuing to be up for sale highlight the tough times ahead. The industry is starting to see larger brands and smaller designers pull back inventory and higher acquisition costs, all causing revenue decreases. Ultimately, perpetual sales don’t cut it anymore. To stay alive, multi-brand retailers need to connect further with niche communities and provide ample value or offer everything that a customer could want as a one-stop shop destination. But for Bettridge, who assumed the role of VP of Creative and Content at SSENSE this past June, his philosophy and the brand's North Star are one in the same, «to create that doorway into a story that’s exciting for people and gets more people’s attention.»