LEVI'S ADVERTISING STRATEGY

Levi's Advertising Strategy



Levi's Advertising Strategy

Introduction

Levi's has been a major American brand that is well known for their quality of denim and cotton jeans globally. Levi Strauss main competitors in the jeans market have been Wrangler and Lee. In 1988, Levi Strauss's share of the jeans market was 24 percent, as compared to Wrangler's 7 percent and Lee's 12 percent.

Since the 1980s, Levi Strauss worked diligently to claim the young urban market with its 501 jeans. Levi's 501 television commercials, created by the San Francisco agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, traded on the mystique of hipness with its use of blues music and young actors portraying city youth. Levi followed this with a series of ads for its 505 jeans (stressing comfort, not hipness) that sought to hold on to its share of the so-called lost “jean-eration” of baby boomers (Dvorak, 2010).

Trends within Advertising and Promotion

The Levi's brand has been inconsistent in the last few years. It has lost the powerful place it enjoyed during the 1980s and 1990s. A major part of its latest advocating, specifically BBH's Dangerous Liason ad managed by Ringan Ledwidge, has endeavored to put in the sexiness commonly linked with the emblem by citing its annals, and Go forward, the first crusade from W+K Portland for Levi's, is operating with similar interests.

The ad campaign ran across different mediums that included TV, print, and digital channels, as well as, the launch of the website the following day. The executive creative director Susan Hoffman tells that the campaign focusses on paying homage to Levi's history, "but also to refresh and reinvent the idea of a pioneering spirit for the times in which we live". During these times of recession, the locations present a manifesto suggesting that one of the responses is to give up suits and make a return to potent old fashioned hard graft (finished while wearing Levi's casual trousers) - "I am the new American pioneer, looking forward, not ever back," it states. "No longer content to delay for better times... I will work for better times. Cause no one built this homeland in suits." The two TV spots extend in a similar vein, featuring works by US bard Walt Whitman. Ryan McGinley is the person taking photos behind the Levi's print campaign, peak.

The unique weave in Levi's incredible new product ensures that Let's Go jeans remain free of stains, moisture, wrinkles, odors and germs - plus they will never shrink or fade. The most comfortable jeans on the market that never need to be washed, coupled with Levi's powerful branding will provide the consumer with 100% freedom.

Supported by an intensive launch campaign, targeting market segments, Levi's Let's Go jeans will change the way consumers think about wearing their 'denims' and create a demand for this revolutionary new product (Downey, 2007).

Current Trends within Advertising and Promotion

Levi Strauss enjoyed gradually expanding sales of their blue jeans all through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. This long-term trend in rising sales peaked in 1981 when total US ...