Levi Ads Wear on Competitors
Levi Strauss & Co., which has been battered in recent years by low-priced competitors and high-end fashion designers, unveiled a new advertising campaign Monday that portrays the San Francisco-based denim company as a fashion leader.
The outdoor advertising campaign attempts to nudge designers Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren from the top of the fashion heap by noting they’ve worn Levis in the past. The ads, which include billboards and bus-stop signs in Los Angeles and 16 other major markets, are the first from TBWA Chiat/Day, the Venice Beach-based advertising agency that in January won the Levi account.
Levi’s outdoor advertisements feature a red Levi tag against a white background, and the first name of a designer. The reference to Calvin Klein says only that “Calvin Wore Them.” The New York-based designer wasn’t available to comment Monday on Levi’s ad campaign.
Ads naming other designers are similarly worded.
The new ads are supposed to reignite consumer interest in Levi, which late last year blamed a sales slowdown for a painful restructuring that included 11 plant closings and the elimination of more than 6,000 jobs.
“What Levi Strauss is trying to do is ‘refashionize’ jeans, which have grown into a commodity item,” said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard’s Retail Trend Reporter, a Scotch Plains, N.J.-based industry newsletter.
“They’re using world-famous names that carry significant weight in fashion. And they’re hoping those names will revitalize Levi’s relevance with certain target groups of customers.”
Levi isn’t alone in trying to co-opt some of the glamour generated by more fashionable apparel. Both Levi and VF Corp., which owns the Wrangler and Lee lines, are “doing similar things as they try to make themselves stand out,” Barnard said. “They both want to be the primary jean of choice for these important younger consumers who pay attention to fashion.”
Levi, which had come under attack in recent years for advertising that failed to attract the jaded eye of increasingly important teenagers, will roll out additional advertising in June, said Mark Hogan, director of consumer marketing for Levi USA.
The new ads mark the start of a monthlong commemoration of the 125th anniversary of Levi’s blue jeans. “The billboard campaign is a way to playfully remind people that we invented the blue jean,” Hogan said.
But even as Levi was crowing about its advertisements, competitor Calvin Klein was using its own ad campaign to trumpet the 20th anniversary of its entry into the designer blue-jeans market.
Klein is credited with helping jump-start the market for upscale blue jeans. The jeans that prompted other upscale fashion designers to enter the market also sparked the memorable “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins” advertising campaign.
