Tristan Walker re-packages the Mail Order Business

A symbol of the digital-era American dream and a seemingly lone public voice for black entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, Tristan Walker is not one for going along with with the flow of traffic.

After challenging beauty and consumer product giants such as Proctor and Gamble with his endearingly simple shaving brand, Bevel, Walker is now going against modernity with a stand-alone content platform, Bevel Code.

Many companies today generally have a blog, create cool video content, buy rich media ads, pay tens of thousands for publicity and media relations, or sponsor and influence news content.

But while Walker and his team do much of that for Bevel, they have also uped the ante with Bevel Code, putting a web-2.0 spin on the old-fashion mail-order model. Their website produces regular content built around men's wellness, black culture and the art of grooming.

Bevel Code- An Ode to the Good Old Mail Order Catalogue

Growing up, my parents were constantly the recipient of mail order style product catalogues. Some were seasonal, featuring various gift ideas and holiday produce and snacks. Others sold vitamins, sports equipment, or various office supplies.

The really good catalogues didn’t merely jam pack the pages with the pictures of different products onto its pages. Instead, they sold an experience, gave you free information or knowledge, and featured interviews of iconic persons associated with the products being sold.

Even if you didn’t buy a single item from a particular edition, you could not wait for the next catalog to come. In fact, as late as 2002, all the soccer kids at my high school would pine over the latest edition of the beloved Eurosport magazine.

A decade later, the mail order product catalog is barely an occupant of consumer memories. Apart from the airplane regular , SkyMall magazine, I never see them..

Walker & Co, Driving Against Traffic

It is the modern obscurity of the mail order model that makes Walker & Co's new stand-alone site is pretty exceptional. While a few other giants like, Red Bull Energy (through their Red Bull Music Academy) are willing to invest in a stand-alone content creation, few will.

Hence the exceptional nature of Walker & Co: their business is built primarily on values, not on trends.

Bevel’s team could simply sponsor some videos with a few personalities, post to a blog on the main bevel site, or rely on really expensive media buying campaigns. But such reliance would fall short of Walker & Co’s commitment to culture.

After all, it was their commitment to a comprehensive definition of American culture and historically neglected consumers that led Tristan Walker and his team used to create the Bevel razor (a razor built for me with corse and/or curly hair).

Thus, it’s no surprise that Walker & Co would be so energetic in embracing their customer’s social tastes, lifestyle and consumer outlook.

Bevel Code is a beautiful platform with good stuff to read and watch. But moreover, it is a great lesson in being unequivocal in your focus and in embracing the political identities of your core customer segments, even if it’s the last thing everyone else would do.

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Medvis Jackson is a web designer at Hindsite, curator at Kulchah and avid cricket fan. You can follow him @medvisjackson for his random thoughts

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