Company founder, Joe Shortal borrowed the term "White boy" from his black American peers while he played basketball at university in St. Louis. For 70% of white Americans it (was) probably an offensive term, cheeky at best! But Joe Shortal saw things a bit differently: "...I grew up with many black Americans as an athlete who played competitive level basketball. Since I was one of only a few "white boys" on any given team - I usually got the label "white boy" ...and as far as I was concerned, it was a term of endearment!" Joe later teamed up with an old friend, Marc Jacobs (no, not the incredibly famous one) who was also a trained graphic designer, and the emblematic "Cock" symbol was born. Joe and Marc were introduced to Benir Koranache of BKLTD by former Von Dutch marketing mastermind, Caroline Rothwell (founder of CARO marketing) and collectively, they created the #GetCocky campaign. BKLTD and CARO Marketing determined that few black celebs would actually wear a brand called "White Boy" - right away - and might find the brand dodgy at first! The solution was to take a proactive marketing position and create a bold radio campaign in the heart of Hip Hop culture via Hot 97 in New York.

The results were controversial - but got the attention the "Get Cocky" campaign was looking for - and then some.: