Not Your Dad’s Suit Shop: Men’s Wearhouse Tests Comedy in New Ads

Mark Twain didn’t originate the saying, “the clothes make the man,” but he did famously add his own kicker to that old proverb: “Naked people have little or no influence on society.”

Men’s Wearhouse might agree, as the 50-year-old boutique retailer launches its first 2024 ads with new agency Party Land, experimenting with over-the-top humor and aiming to shake up its staid reputation as your dad’s formalwear shop.

In a campaign debuting ahead of Easter, having the right outfits do indeed make the man—a couple of smart suits allow the ad’s star to land a high-powered job and cut in on the father of the bride at a wedding reception. 

The shop’s casual wear, meanwhile, takes the character to the golf course where he gets a hole in one despite being a total hack, catching the eye of the passing POTUS motorcade and snagging a marriage proposal from the female commander in chief.

The brand keeps its existing tagline, “Love the way you look,” but gets into cheeky territory as a way to modernize the image of the chain’s 630-plus stores for a younger audience.

“We’re trying to create mass reconsideration,” Matt Repicky, senior vice president and chief brands officer at parent company Tailored Brands, told ADWEEK. “We want people to say, ‘That’s not the Men’s Wearhouse I think I know.’”

‘Chest-puffing moment’

The brand chose the irreverent indie agency Party Land in late fall 2023 after a competitive pitch that included a handful of larger shops and holding company divisions vying for the business, Repicky said.

As part of the brief, Men’s Wearhouse wanted its breadth of product to get the spotlight, along with its customer service, which led to the different scenarios in the hero commercial and its 30-second version.

“We focused on creating vignettes and working them into an idea that felt effortless,” said Matt Heath, the agency’s chief creative officer. “The goal is to present Men’s Wearhouse as a solution brand.”

The creatives leaned into a consumer insight that sees men stand up a little taller when they’re suddenly stylish. The video’s hero, for instance, is so enamored with his makeover that he sprints out of the store shouting, “I can do anything!”

“It’s a chest-puffing moment,” Heath said. “A guy puts on a suit, looks in the mirror, and there’s a new sense of confidence—we wanted to capture that and bring it to life.”

And as is typical of the Party Land oeuvre—evident in work for Liquid Death, Wholly Veggie and Dave’s Hot Chicken, to name a few—the connection between brand, product and emotion plays out in wacky ways. As a like-minded co-conspirator, the agency partnered with Tool of North America director Hannah Levy, a veteran of Saturday Night Live short films and former ADWEEK Creative 100 honoree.

‘I guarantee it’

Men’s Wearhouse had some comedic seeds buried in its past marketing, Heath said, so the sensibility just needed to be unearthed and refreshed.

“Comedy is not a one-size-fits-all proposition—there’s everything from sweet to outrageous,” said Heath, whose shop was a finalist for ADWEEK’s 2023 Breakthrough Agency of the Year. “It was important to find the right kind of comedy for Men’s Wearhouse.”

The chain, which opened its first stores in 1973, may be best known for the testimonials from its founder and former top executive. George Zimmer was front and center in long-running ads with the famous tagline, “You’re going to like the way you look—I guarantee it,” delivered in his trademark sandpapery baritone.

Zimmer, who published a memoir in 2021, left the brand after a dispute with the board in 2013, a forced departure that comedian Jimmy Kimmel likened to firing Santa Claus. 

In more recent times, Men’s Wearhouse has focused on its formal clothing, featuring the romance of weddings and other such big events in commercials that felt “more solemn and emotional in nature,” Repicky said.

“We’ve seen success with that work, but we want to take ourselves less seriously,” he added. “This is a pretty big change.”

Dressing up or down

The attitude shift matches up with alterations in personal and professional dress codes—fewer office environments, more work from home—with the brand touting a range of clothing that can take men from Zoom meetings to bar mitzvahs to weekend outings. 

“For a lot of men, it used to be a gray suit, white shirt, and you’re out the door,” Repicky said. “But now men might need polos and sweaters for a casual lunch, a tux rental, an off-the-rack suit that we’ll tailor—it’s been an evolution.”

The new marketing also hits as traditional malls and department stores have struggled in the face of specialty retail and digital shopping.

In addition to naming Party Land on the creative side, Men’s Wearhouse also picked a new media shop, Ovative Group, in a competitive search. Ovative will oversee the campaign’s media placements across broadcast and connected TV, as well as social and digital platforms.

The campaign, which will run through June, coincides with wedding planning season and the spring collection rollout, when many consumers are shedding their heavy winter clothes and looking for a wardrobe change.