Bonobos on Thursday launched its fall campaign, per details shared with Marketing Dive. The effort centers on “The Weekday Warrior Show,” an episodic content series that will run across the brand’s digital and social channels throughout the season. The series stars Jack Quaid, an actor best known for roles in Amazon Prime Video series “The Boys” and films including “Companion.”
“Jack brings such a unique personality and is able to represent that person who can be calm in the midst of the storm of the workday chaos, but doing it in a way that is completely effortless, which ties to the product,” said Bonobos CMO Joe Berean.
In the first episode of the series, Quaid dubs himself the “weekday warrior consultant,” a reference to Bonobos’ Weekday Warrior Pant, which Berean describes as having the polish of a dress pant but the comfort of a chino. The actor breaks the fourth wall and cracks jokes while extolling the values of the brand’s best-selling product. This approach will continue throughout the series, per Berean.
“Once the team got into telling this story, we saw that it could be something that was rolled out with an episodic approach that could last throughout the whole season,” Berean said.
The strategy reflects the CMO's observation that consumers are responding to entertainment content from brands. “The Weekday Warrior Show,” with its laugh track and office setting, nods to the tropes of classic sitcoms, but also includes actual Bonobos employees for a dose of authenticity. When an office worker character says he has to build eight decks in the next hour, Quaid quips, “Call a carpenter, am I right?"
The content series is intended to be social-first — bringing it in line with pervading marketing strategies and content formats — while eventually leading consumers to the brand’s website, which will feature video and other supplemental content.
“[The series] is architected to be digital first, with a high focus on social, but in a way that can be appreciated and enjoyed episodically or through the more bite-sized content pieces that we know perform so well through a lot of our paid media channels,” Berean said.
Future episodes will focus on other items across the brand’s fall collection, including the Weekday Warrior Dress Shirt, Jetsetter Dress Shirt, Everyday Oxford Shirt, Unconstructed Blazer and Knit Blazer. The collection is available via the brand’s website and brick-and-mortar retail locations nationwide. The brand will also relaunch on Shopify soon, Berean said.
Launched in 2007, Bonobos pioneered a direct-to-consumer model but was eventually bought and sold by Walmart. The brand and parent company Express were bought out of bankruptcy in 2024 by Phoenix Retail, a joint venture from Simon Property Group, Brookfield Properties, Centennial and brand management firm WHP Global. Bonobos now has 48 guideshop locations in the U.S., as well as a distribution partnership with Nordstrom.
Bonobos this year has teamed with “Succession” actor Nicholas Braun, “Summer House” cast members Carl Radke and Ben Waddell, and podcast hosts Joe Santagato and Frank Alvarez in marketing efforts that look to emphasize a “wry smile” positioning that favors humor with an edge.
“Bonobos has such a strong identity [and] that core promise at the beginning to do something unique in the marketplace and provide a destination for guys to go where they can look good and feel good through the fit, comfort and versatility of the products that we offer,” Berean said.
“The past few years have been hyper-focused on that goal: making sure the product itself delivers on that and the experiences that we create for our customers throughout online and in our guideshops deliver on that,” the executive added.
