Social Listening: CLOAK Brand

     CLOAK is a clothing brand that was founded by two popular, gaming YouTube creators. These creators are JackSepticEye and Markiplier, who later added Pokimane, another gaming content creator to represent the brand. Many people who follow the brand have praised the quality of the clothing they've received, while very few have complained about the limited stock in each collection that's dropped. What had interested me personally is that they guarantee high quality clothing, which a lot of brands do but sometimes you get the opposite result. 

     Cloak's story wants people to be proud and comfortable with what they wear, and want their customers to have a voice. On the Cloak website, their story states, "This is CLOAK. This is our clothing brand. But more importantly, this is your clothing brand.  Something has been missing from our lives: clothing for people like us. The apparel options that the fashion industry has given to us are pretty much all the same, and the brands marketing to us don’t really know who we are. That’s why we created CLOAK, the first high-end apparel brand for our community. We set out to create clothes that fit our lifestyle AND our bodies. Clothes that are cool, and comfortable, and ultimately make sense for us. Clothes that we actually want. Our goal in building this brand is to give you a voice. We want to create a brand that listens to what you need and gives you what you’re missing. Most importantly, we want CLOAK to be a brand that you’re proud to represent. That is the pounding heart of CLOAK. Over the years we’ve been inspired by YouTube and our communities, and we hope that in return CLOAK will inspire you. So, thanks for taking this journey with us." CLOAK also has a slogan, "Hidden in plain sight," which unlike other, more well known brands (Nike, Puma, Reebok, etc.) encourages customers to wear the brand out in public, to make a statement.

     On the brand's social media accounts many consumers leave positive feedback on new collections, how their clothes arrived, etc. One Instagram user, @itsbenbyy left a comment stating "THIS is one of the biggest reasons I love this brand so much. Y’all constantly give back to the communities that your audience are apart of and support. Love you all to bits ♥️🏳️‍🌈," this comment was left on CLOAK's post about partnering with the Trevor Project. 

     Another customer, @RowleyKendra on Twitter had tagged CLOAK stating, "I think my favorite thing about my @cloakbrand cloak is that if I put my hood on and walk with my head down I'm not a man or a woman, I'm an unknown sorcerer from a distant land traveling on a quest," this tweet was noticed by CLOAK, who reposted the tweet in an Instagram post. 

One last customer, @Kravenem on Instagram had commented on a post featuring a new collection with some concern about shipping, "It looks so pretty !! But I’m hesitant to buy anything more from you since I have not received anything from my GvE set I ordered in Nov. I understand it is pandemic shipping and such !! I just have received no updates or shipping notifications or anything...." On CLOAK's website, there is a disclaimer that orders may take longer than expected to ship due to COVID-19. The brand also leaves a site to contact them at (support@cloakbrand.com) in case a customer needs to contact them. When consumer's reach out on social media the brand takes action and replies to those with questions or need assistance, and they will even send a direct message (DM) to provide further assistance. 

     If I were the brand manager, not only would I have sent a DM to address the customer's concern, but I'd also look into why my consumers are receiving poor customer service from the support team. This issue would also need to be addressed by the brand to allow customers know that the issue has been acknowledged and they're working to fix the issue. Then they should show proof that the issue has been resolved.

     To help market their products, CLOAK features many YouTube content creators modeling their clothing. These content creators not only model the clothing, but also promote the products on their personal pages. As a company, CLOAK not only wants to build brand recognition but they also want to listen and include their customers in the creation of products and getting feedback on what collections should return.

     From doing this assignment I've learned that marketing a brand is harder than it looks, and there will always be at least one consumer who isn't happy with a product or service they've received.

*To visit CLOAK's website go to cloakbrand.com or click the link.
*To visit CLOAK's Twitter go to @cloakbrand or click the link.
*To visit CLOAK's Instagram go to @cloakbrand or click the link.