Jamaal Layne Joins Good American as Chief Marketing Officer – WWD – Pen 18

Good American has tapped Jamal Lane as Chief Marketing Officer.

The title marks a new role for the brand, which was launched in Los Angeles in 2016 by Emma Grede and Khloé Kardashian.

As reported by WWD, “I’m first in the seat,” said Layne, who left Calvin Klein in October last year as executive vice president, global brand and North America marketing after nearly 10 months. .

“Honestly, what attracted me was talking to Emma, ​​talking to the team,” he went on. “She’s very emotional.”

Prior to joining Calvin Klein, Layne was the head of entertainment marketing at home audio company Sonos Inc. He has also held positions at Nike, Microsoft, Converse and Adidas. But his career began in publishing, working in marketing for magazines like Father and Arb.

“Lifestyle marketing was known before as lifestyle marketing,” said the executive. “That’s where I learned how to connect the brand to the culture.”

Working at Calvin Klein, similar to his experience at Microsoft, gave him “the basis for navigating a matrix, a complex matrix, a really big organization,” he continued. “It’s nice to be in really big organizations, but as I look at marketing and how it’s changing, you have to be nimble and be able to move on and pivot if something isn’t working. It’s really hard to do with a corporation. It’s really hard. It’s a lot of people, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s a lot of chefs in the kitchen, and you’re all trying to make decisions, Which is totally fine, but I knew with my heart that I needed to be in a little space where I could just be, like, ‘Is this working? If it’s not, let’s pivot. We do.'”

At Good American, they aim to connect with the young consumer by “organically leaning into the culture” and show what it means to be an inclusive brand today, beyond what is characteristic of plus-size models.

“The premise has been set, so what I want to do is continue to tell the stories that Good American is telling to its audience, but I also want to expand that audience,” Layne said.

“Why can’t we show up at Coachella the cool way… or the awards show?” she added. “There are really interesting things that we can do.…Consumers like to identify with brands that really identify with them and their ethos…. That’s what I’m going to inspire us to do. Our ethos needs to align with that of our consumer. And I guess we can do that, because our product does, right? We are one of the few brands that can go from double zero to 32 plus. this is incredible.”

Originally published at Pen 18