ROOTS UNITED IN VICTORY
World Cup fever leads to latest success
for Roots apparelAs the largest, most anticipated international sport event kicks off today, the already high demand for the Roots United collection is sure to become even more intense. Timed to coincide with the World Cup soccer (known as "football" to most of the world) tournament, the Roots United line hit the stores last week and already many have sold out of certain models. As a result, new quantities have been ordered. The collection features 16 teams connected to popular local ethnicities of Canada.
"It truly represents Roots as a company," says Senior Designer, Special Projects,
David Young, of the Roots United football line. "It stands for what Roots is on the inside and outside portraying both Roots staff and customers." David designed the collection and was involved in the ad campaign that features
Haydain Neale from the Toronto-based band jacksoul and
Marissa Roberto, a Saskatoon-born dance artist of Italian descent.
It was the idea of
James Connell, Director, E-commerce, Digital Marketing and New Media to feature Canadian-born Neale, whose recently released single ‘One’ (now on Roots radio) talks about diversity and inclusion, also core values of Roots. "With Haydain we were able to build a multi-dimensional campaign that extends past the poster in the window," says James, who is also behind securing the
Vespa motor scooter promotion as a give away in a ballot contest for customers. Roots will also provide current Roots window posters featuring Haydain to Vespa for their 60th anniversary party next week where jacksoul will be performing. (Visit
Roots.com to purchase his first single, "One" on iTunes.)
Both Haydain and Marissa were photographed in the Roots Head Office styled by
Joanne (Jojo) Joseph, Associate Designer, Special Projects with David who also coordinated the photo shoot with Senior Art Director
Ilich Mejia. Later, both David and Ilich scoured the streets of Toronto creating a picture library of shots that would provide the right ethnic background for the initial images. The pictures were then integrated into different layouts by Graphic Designer
Sean Vicary to achieve the final ad artwork.
"Roots United shows the multiculturalism of Roots," says Ilich. "Though Canada is not participating, it's here in Toronto that you see the actual spirit of the World Cup where teams from all over find representation."
The 16 countries featured in the Roots United collection were selected by David along with
Raymond Perkins, Director of PR and Special Events. Raymond is also involved in the ongoing Vespa and XM Satellite Radio promotions. Both offers are part of the campaign.
"The Roots United campaign is by far the best ads we'’ve featured at Roots so far this year", says
Michael Budman, Co-Founder of Roots. Looking at the initial sales figures, customers seem to think so, too.
