Ep. 94 - Janzen Tew, Part Tew
Janzen Tew first joined the podcast in Season 2 on Episode 51 where we chatted all about her company, Denim & Velvet Marketing. To be able to have her jump back onto the show for a multitude of big announcements, not just for her and her business, but also for the western fashion industry as a whole, was big time! There’s no surprise that Janzen was a part of the inaugural class of COWGIRL Magazine’s 30 Under 30 program and we can’t wait to showcase what she’s been up to in this collaboration series episode!
Client Journey Through the Pandemic
“I did originally feel really guilty giving my response, but now I feel proud because of the number of businesses we have been able to help,” admits Janzen. “The pandemic hurt so many people and, honestly, it was emotionally and physically taking a toll on so many people. However, for us, we were able to step up and help a lot of people gain financial freedom.”
From not utilizing social media or e-commerce websites or photography or social media, Denim & Velvet was able to jump in and help them utilize their social media and website by using clear and concise photography and social media marketing.
“This is really bad ass - my company is able to help a lot of businesses expand and stay afloat,” says Janzen about the moment she realized that it was a proud moment.
Employees
“I am a boss but I’m not ‘a boss.’ I don’t enjoy that side of the business so we navigated [the [pandemic] together,” says Janzen. Working through it step-by-step, they first stayed home from the office while they watched what the rest of the world was doing. Realizing that if they were smart and healthy about it, they could work together as a team in the office. The healthy creative part of that was a major push for them so that no one felt they were isolated or left at home with no one to see.
Keeping high energy and fun in the office really helps them to assist their clients. Janzen even jokes that most of the energy probably comes from her and that the ladies in the office have to tell her to leave them alone so they can do their jobs. “I am a firm believer in trying to see fun trends that are happening in the industry that we can utilize … I also try to look outside the industry as well for ideas.”
One such examples was their western remake of a J. Crew commercial of fashion in a similar context but not the same by any means. They focused on western aspects such as fringe and hats. They spend times looking at mainstream businesses that they can, in turn, take western.
Short Form Vertical Video
“It made me learn how to use my camera as a video camera - which was not my strong suit,” says Janzen about the boost in short form vertical videos such as TikTok and Instagram Reels. It has meant a lot of time on YouTube trying to learn everything they can about fluidly moving videos from horizontal to vertical and showcasing products.
In 2017 and 2018, Janzen had started doing a lot of videos for clients after a Forever 21 started posting videos of them showcasing outfits wearing them. Laying out a square on the ground, the model would walk and move around the square to be in frame to showcase the “movement” of an outfit.
Creative Ruts
“No matter how much you love what you do, it’s easy to get into a creative rut,” says Janzen, and these videos have helped them push themselves out of the inevitable creative ruts. What can be challenging, though, is the heavy schedule that they have means they often batch film 9-10 videos in a day to spread out over 2-3 weeks. As trends continue to move quickly, it’s hard for them to stay caught up on the trends.
“Finding out what trends to hop on, how to keep them semi marketing related - ya, TikTok makes me feel old but I’m still out here tik’n and tok’n!”
“For me personally… what I like to do is to go do something completely out of my element. Something that makes me feel almost uncomfortable,” says Janzen. “I will go skateboard or roller skate - I’m not super coordinated. Or go do something that is just out of my day-to-day life.”
The reason is that it makes Janzen notice what is going on around here. Being out of your normal situation you’ll start recognizing or seeing things that a person that is normally there would just look over. One recent example is that she went to the roller rink and was inspired by the retro, the colors and the vibes. A lot of pieces from their end of October photo shoot really impacted through the styling of outfits and props in that shoot.
Underrated Aspects of Using A Marketing Company
“I’m going to say email marketing because so many people rely on social media,” says Janzen and this comes especially after social media went down for seven hours here recently. Actively staying in contact with your consumers and fans outside of social media is so important.
Western Fashion Trend Predictions
Leather
”I know that it’s always a trend in leather jackets like Double D and studded, but you’re also going to see a lot of leather blazers and leathers pants - both skinny and wide legged. You’ll also see a lot of chocolate leather,” says Janzen.Black and Browns
While never having been big mixer of blacks and browns, Janzen said that brown leather is pairing so well with blacks.White Boots
Whether faux gator, snip toe, tall, short, bootie, or anything else - white boots are a fashion trend even outside of the western lifestyle.Color Blocking
”I wore a hot pink shirt with lime green pants and hot pink heels. I am here to mix my greens and reds, baby blues and purples -just mixing two different colors together that complement each other without even matching.”
”I’ll also do several shades of a color, whether blues or pinks, together.”
Roper Stage Fashion Show at Mandalay Bay
“We are going to do things a little bit differently this year with how the sections are run…. still a bunch of beautiful women walking down the runway, with fun music… we are so excited to be back because we didn’t do last year at the 2020 NFR,” says Janzen. Excited to showcase the Roper Country Christmas vendors, they knew that they weren’t going to benefit as much in 2020 with how spread out everything was going to be.
Managing Western Runway
“We took over the management of Western Runway and we are so excited and so honored that Jessie Jarvis, Ashley Alderson, and Tiffany Cooper had enough faith in us to do so,” says Janzen of the magazine founded in 2016. “I have been fortunate to have shot the cover twice and have had images featured inside it with ad design. But to be able to take it and run with it this year is so exciting!”
Janzen even shared with us the 2021 Cover Model, none other than Lindsay Branquinho! Selected because of her amazing style, Lindsay was also selected for her personal brand, her ranching advocacy, her work to promote rodeo and her husband Luke Branquinho in the steer wrestling. A wife, mother, producer of her own clothing collection collaboration, and is extremely funny on social media.
You can find the magazines all over the Las Vegas during the National Finals Rodeo. While you can’t get it at home throughout the year, Janzen is looking into direct-mail for subscriptions to being a year around magazine. Breaking out in a couple different areas, they are joining forces with media outlets to cover western fashion out and about at events throughout the year. The current plan is to also have the magazine produced one other time throughout the year.