Levi Strauss and World

Levi Strauss and World
From Denim a Rainbow of Possibilities

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Levi's sneaky "butt cam" campaign


Who are the real masterminds behind a low-tech YouTube hit?

By Mary Elizabeth Williams Want to create a viral hit?
 I suggest the phrase "ass cam." "Ever wonder what goes on behind your back?" self-proclaimed "Rear View Girl" Reanin asks from a casually cluttered bedroom, right before slipping a hidden camera into the back pocket of her accomplice Jessie's form-fitting jeans. "Well, we figured out a way to bust people." In a booty-flaunting clip that's racked up nearly 7 million views since it debuted on YouTube last week, the two then take to the streets of Los Angeles and stealthily record all the second looks their rear views attract. Was their experiment a feminist exploration of the male gaze in modern society, a Hollaback Project-inspired two-girl campaign? Was the jaunty use of Amanda Blank's "Something Bigger, Something Better" (sample lyric: "I'm owning the first class hooker shit") ironic commentary? I mean, look at all those lascivious stares! So busted! Ass cams for the people!

Actually, the clip was created by Levi's. Oh.

You'd sure never know it from the video, which never mentions the brand and barely even shows off said ogle-winning denim. There is, however, a brief partial shot of a Levi's store sign as a man dressed as Jesus openly gawks past the ladies, which I'm sure a shrink would have a field day interpreting. You probably wouldn't even guess it's a Levi's ad from the accompanying "behind-the-scenes" video, which lingers over the girls' butts, closes with an innocuous-seeming shot of a pair of jeans, but never mentions the company. But who needs to say what you're selling when you've got two hotties selling it anyway?

In its first few days, the ass cam video drew plenty of views -- and accompanying media stories about the apparently amateurish stunt. Jess tweeted jovially that the two women simply "love men!" and that "We're celebrating your appreciation 4 women everywhere! ;)" But this week, Colenso BBDO Auckland fessed up that it was the brains behind the behinds. The agency's creative director, Nick Worthington, meanwhile bragged to Campaignbrief.com that "Levi's tells us it's the fastest, most successful viral campaign Levi's has ever done, and it's only just started."
Now that the cat is out of the low-rise, boot cut bag, it's a fair assumption that Levi's has some clever next move to capitalize on all the notice that Jess and Reanin's posteriors have garnered. Nevertheless, the idea of an advertising campaign so subtle that nobody watching can even tell it's an advertising campaign is a pretty unusual one.









Wednesday, February 23, 2011

More than Marketing- commitment

The Levi Strauss Foundation is focused on making a difference on three issues, all of which are rooted in the values of Levi Strauss & Co.:




•HIV/AIDS

•Asset Building

•Workers Rights

HIV/AIDS

Changing the course of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic requires the courage to tackle challenging social issues, the commitment to sustain long-term investments and the determination to push the limits of existing responses. We view AIDS not simply as a health problem, but a product of — and exacerbated by — pervasive violations of human rights. Because HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects the poor, least educated and most marginalized people, we have pioneered new approaches to eliminate the stigma of the disease and promote advocacy for those afflicted.



In 1982, the Levi Strauss Foundation became the first U.S. corporate foundation to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Since then, we have contributed approximately $45 million to HIV/AIDS service organizations in more than 40 countries. In 2010, we will dedicate roughly $2.1 million to this area.



Asset Building

We believe that low-income working people, when given the right incentives and support, will save for long-term goals. Building assets has profound effects on individuals and families and their ability to break the poverty cycle. It enables them to plan for the future, avoid risky behavior, and weather unexpected financial storms. Ultimately, it can make home ownership and entrepreneurial job creation a genuine possibility. As such, asset building represents a long-term, innovative anti-poverty strategy that pushes the limits on what is possible.



Our commitment to asset-building programs grew out of early support of the American Dream Demonstration in 1997, a pioneering pilot program that matched savings accounts for the working poor devoted to purchasing a home, paying for college or skills training or starting a small business. The findings of this five-year program have powerfully influenced policies and programs in the United States — and, more recently, abroad.



In 2010, we will devote approximately $1.6 million of grant funds to advance our goals in asset building in the U.S. and abroad.



Worker Rights

From our earliest days, our company has advanced the rights and well-being of workers in the apparel and textile industries. Today, the goal of our Foundation is to support programs that reach approximately 300,000 apparel and textile workers annually in 15 countries where our products are made. These programs range from asset building and financial literacy programs to address the impact of the expiration of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) in Latin America to helping the significant female migrant labor force in China.



Our strategy to advance worker rights embraces four approaches:



1.Educate workers and factory management on labor rights and responsibilities.

2.Improve the health of workers (including hygiene, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS).

3.Provide asset-building opportunities for workers.

4.Enhance oversight of labor laws through support for factory-level dispute resolution mechanisms, legal aid and arbitration channels.

In 2010, we will devote more than $1.5 million of grant funds to advance our goals for supporting and enhancing worker rights.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Levi Strauss Foundation Pioneers in Justice: Vincent Pan

Wow- I am impressed with what Levi's is doing. I started this blog just so the work that I did in an MBA project wouldn't go to waste and I have discovered a truly extraordinary company whose values reflect my own.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Kudos to Levi's for sponsoring TED women

Tell me about Shape What’s to Come -- what was the impetus to launch this network?


Levi Strauss & Co. introduced the first-ever jeans for women 75 years ago. With the launch of Levi's® Curve ID, a collection of new custom fits based on a woman’s shape, not size, the Levi's® brand is once again revolutionizing women's fashion. Now we’re taking this commitment one step further by helping young women to shape their futures. As part of our effort to re-engage with women, we conducted a global study to better understand the challenges, expectations, goals and experiences Millennial women face around the world. From this research, we learned that these women in their 20s are experiencing a world unlike women of previous generations. Aside from living in a dynamic, rapidly changing environment, there are many choices and options open to them and technology has dramatically increased their access to these different avenues in their lives. And while they are wildly independent and focused on carving their own path in life, they are also still looking for one thing -- mentorship. Only now they are reinventing it. Rather than a one-to-one, inter-generational passing of advice, they prefer to engage with their peers and other women who have pioneered in their areas of interest.

Shape What’s to Come is our effort to address a need that Millennial women have for this new re-imagined form of mentorship. We created ShapeWhat’sToCome.com as a place where young women around the world can connect and collaborate with peers and mentors alike, to pursue their passions and channel those passions into something big – be it a new experience, career or cause. We truly see ShapeWhat’sToCome.com as a community of women changing the world -- it's a global platform of women coming together to share, inspire, grow and shape their futures.

Can you share some of the findings from your research into millennial women and their expectations? What surprised you the most?

The most significant finding from the research is that Millennial women have a new definition of success given the rapidly changing and dynamic world in which they live. For many young women, the usual straight path toward adulthood -- which in the past meant hitting traditional "milestones" such as workplace success, marriage and children in a particular order -- has been blurred. Instead, they are taking a more non-linear path that involves exploring a web of opportunities which they sample throughout their 20s, taking advantage of possibilities as they are discovered.



We're seeing a definite shift in priorities among these women. Ninety-six percent of women list independence as their most important life goal, and 87 percent define success as being able to shape their future. This is in stark contrast to traditional milestones such as being a mother (68 percent) or getting married (50 percent), which ranked much lower among their goals. What is most surprising is that although most Millennials feel that they are forging their own path, more than half report that they do not have a definite plan in place to achieve their long-term goals. To navigate a changed world, we found that Millennial women are reimagining traditional mentorship and are looking to an expanded peer network to provide perspective rather than relying solely on advice from previous generations.

Millennial women want something different out of a mentor. Ninety-four percent see mentorship as a two-way street -- they see the best mentors are people whom you can both give and receive advice from.

How did you go looking for the initial set of mentors?

Our goal was to find "ambassadors" for the community whose lives and choices would inspire young women daring to shape their own futures. We searched for change makers -- those who are blazing their own trails in life. Our initial mentors come from all walks of life, ranging from a young woman revolutionizing the foster care system to a photography phenomenon to a woman shaping social change through her non-profit focused on education for young girls in developing countries.

What are the main areas that Millennial women are looking for mentorship in?

During our conversations with women across the world, we started to see key themes emerge. We've based the Shape What's to Come community around four key pillars: music, fashion, art and media, and social change. As the community continues to grow, we'll focus on adding peer mentors for other areas that are important to this community of women.

Did you have a mentor in your early career? How did she or he shape your thinking about the role of mentors?

Early in my career, I thought of mentors as people who were accomplished in my field of work, and it was the sharing of their experience through advice and direction that helped me shape my own path. My first mentor, when I was just starting out in advertising, was a woman named Sherry Paul. The most valuable aspect of Sherry's mentorship was that she really believed in me. Her confidence in my potential gave me the courage to push my limits and to be innovative in the way I approached my work. I still have the hand written note she gave me for my first promotion!

The role of mentors as believers is still important, but now we see an opportunity for a new type of mentorship.The work we are doing at the Levi's® brand with Millennials has shown us that young women around the world now believe mentors can also be someone their own age who has experience in creating her own path amid the wide array of opportunities available to them. This led us to create a democratized form of mentorship that is peer to peer, one that is a two-way give and take experience with streaming perspective on shared interests in a communal forum.

Levi's® has a long history of progressive thought on women's issues -- starting with the launch of the first jeans specifically made for women. Can you give me a brief recap of some other corporate initiatives that focus on women worldwide?

For decades, Levi Strauss & Co. has been a leader in advancing equal rights across the globe. Because we're in the apparel industry, where the majority of workers are women, we have been focused on improving the lives of women in the communities where we do business. Through our philanthropic arm, the Levi Strauss Foundation, we have been providing grants and creating programs that better the lives of women throughout the world, whether it be by providing financial literacy and entrepreneurial programs or access health services and education. Over the past decade alone, these partner- ships have benefitted more than one million workers in 16 countries.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Levi's Sourcing Organic fabrics and dyes


AHMEDABAD: Until Europe invented chemical dyes for textiles,indigo from the Sarkhej farms near Ahmedabad lent colour to most fabrics woven in the west.Sarkhej indigo was a valuable export from India in the 15th century.

Centuries later,as the wheel turns a full circle with the western markets going big on eco-friendly textiles Gujarats prominence in herbal dyeing is being rediscovered by leading international jeans brands.

Levis has started sourcing organic fabric from an Ahmedabad-based firm,Aura Herbal Textiles,for its herbal T-shirts.Aura Herbal was incubated at Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabads Centre for Innovation,Incubation and Entrepreneurship. We are working with Levis to provide organic material for their herbal T-shirts.The company is likely to launch the product in Europe and US this year.Fabrics are manufactured without involving chemicals at any step, says Arun Baid,who started the company in 2002 with wife Sonal.
When contacted,Levis,however,refused to comment on the development.Aura also plans to introduce herbal undergarments in India this year besides foraying into retail business.In conventional dyeing,around 8,000 chemicals are used to dye fabric.Some chemicals may affect skin adversely.But,we aim to add eco-friendly products not just to earn money but also to prevent global warming and pollution related to textiles, says Baid,who already has over 500 clients in Europe,US,Australia and Asia besides being associated with the Taj Spa Hotels supplying entire bath range,spa collection and home textiles.
Aura set up its plant in Ahmedabad with seed funding from GVFL Limited,a state government-promoted venture capital fund.The company sources herbs and other raw materials through made-to-order contracts with farmers in Madhya Pradesh and parts of South India.

Our target turnover is Rs 4 crore this year and we aim to double it over the next couple of years, says Baid,who has plans to enter the capital market in a few years time. The company is certified by Global Organic Textile Standard,a leading processing standard for textiles made from organic fibres worldwide and has a US and India patent for herbal dyeing.

Read more: Ahmedabad gives herbal hues to Levis - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Ahmedabad-gives-herbal-hues-to-Levis/articleshow/7499066.cms#ixzz1E2m5UrC2

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Levi's Fourth Quarter profit climbed 2%

Levi Strauss & Co. reported its fiscal fourth-quarter profit climbed 28% as the jeans maker reported higher sales across all geographic regions, led by the Americas and Asia Pacific markets.
The company has said it expects its strong cash position to improve and fund ambitious retail growth plans. Levi, which specializes in riveted denim jeans and different lines of casual and street fashion, ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $269.7 million, down 0.4% from a year earlier.



...



Friday, February 11, 2011

Financial standing Levi's

SAN FRANCISCO (February 8, 2011) – Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended November 28, 2010.


Highlights include:

($ millions)

Three Months Ended Nov. 28, 2010

% Change vs. 2009

As Reported

Fiscal Year Ended Nov. 28, 2010

% Change vs. 2009

As Reported

Net revenues

$1,290

7%

$4,411

7%

Net income

$86

28%

$157

3%

The company grew revenues across each geographic region in fiscal year 2010, due to the strength of the Levi’s® brand, an expanded global store network and the acquisitions made in 2009. As a result, full-year net revenues were up 7 percent from the prior year and fourth-quarter net revenues were up 7 percent compared to the same period in the prior year. Full-year net income increased 3 percent over the prior year and fourth-quarter net income increased 28 percent compared to the same period in the prior year.

“In 2010, we made significant progress transforming our business and moving towards sustainable long-term growth,” said John Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co. “We improved our profitability, and across all of our regions we grew revenues. Looking ahead, we remain committed to our strategies to enhance product, engage consumers with innovative brand experiences and expand our global presence.”

– more –

LS&Co. FY 2010 Results/Add Two

February 8, 2011

Fourth Quarter 2010 Highlights

 Gross profit in the fourth quarter was $647 million compared with $618 million for the same period in 2009 reflecting the increase in net revenues. Gross margin for the fourth quarter was 50.2 percent of revenues compared with 51.1 percent of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009.

 Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses for the fourth quarter were $528 million compared with $501 million in the same period of 2009. The increase was primarily due to higher selling costs related to additional company-operated retail stores.

 Operating income for the fourth quarter was $119 million compared with $118 million for the same period of 2009.

Regional Overview Regional net revenues for the fourth quarter were as follows:

% Increase

Net Revenues

($ millions)

Three Months Ended November 28, 2010

Three Months Ended November 29, 2009

As Reported

Constant Currency

Americas

$772

$720

7%

7%

Europe

$300

$288

4%

11%

Asia Pacific

$218

$201

8%

3%  Higher net revenues in the Americas primarily resulted from the Levi’s® retail business and U.S. Dockers® brand.  Net revenues in Europe increased due to growth in the company-operated retail network across the region and improvement in the Levi’s® wholesale business.  Net revenues in Asia Pacific increased due to the continued expansion of the company’s brand-dedicated retail network in China and India as well as in other emerging markets, while Japan continued to decline.

LS&Co. FY 2010 Results/Add Three

February 8, 2011

"We are pleased that we delivered top-line growth for 2010,” said Blake Jorgensen, chief financial officer of Levi Strauss & Co. “We are committed to driving long-term sustainable growth and we will continue to invest behind our strategies in 2011 as we did in 2010.”

Thursday, February 3, 2011

A decenting opinion about Levi's social media marketing


Levi's "Social Media Girl" Effort Degrades Social Media

The sight of this headline at the top of the website of The San Francisco Chronicle sent this blogger into orbit: "Levi's seeks "social media girl." The reason's simple. Here's one more large company that hands off its social broadcasting efforts to one person, and has an approach that's uncoordinated, inconsistent, and not effective.
This blog post isn't about who does this correctly, because as long as companies continue to refer to Twitter as a social network, and compare Facebook to Google, when they have different roles online, finding great examples of social broadcasting done well will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
What Levi's is trying to do is find what marketers call a "brand manager." But the implication is that the company itself, from the CEO on down, doesn't get social media at all. Indeed, the one person who should be out in front on this is Levi's CEO John Anderson, but he doesn't even have a Twitter account as of this writing.
Mr. Anderson's shirking his duties. The overall message must come from the person in charge; if Anderson's not using social media platforms, or having Levi's make its own, then it's not going to know how to values its own efforts.
Indeed, this "handing off" of social media efforts to one person or some intern was widely complained about and by digital media experts like Cheryl Goodman and Russell Reeder at CES 2011 Las Vegas.
My research reveals a Levi's that just plain doesn't know what it's doing when it comes to social media and social broadcasting. For example, it's most successful effort in this area, the iSpy program, was recognized by Digital Buzz Blog in 200.

But guess what? The iSpy Twitter Campaign, a real work game where you use clues to find people, brand ambassadors, wearing Levis, and if you went up and asked them if they had Levis pants on and were correct, got their pair, was launched not in the United States, but in Australia and New Zealand!

That's it!
Meanwhile, Levi's has does not have a name that's consistently used between its Facebook, Twitter, and other online platforms, and no blog at all. Thus, there's no place for Levi's CEO to get out a consistent brand message.
That's his job, not that one "Social Media Girl." And the problem is that because Levi's leaves its social media efforts to a few people, rather than it being part of its culture's DNA, the remnants of its failure are all over the Internet: page after underused page on platforms showing what Levi's tried to do at one point or another.

It all ads up to one big fail. An already big fail the jeans brand is about to continue in it's search for a Levi's Social Media Girl.  In fact, to show how bad this all is, Levi's reps have the messaging "We're looking for the next Levi's Girl," right?

So you'd figure they'd buy the URL LevisGirl.com, which they did. But they're not using it, didn't buy anything else as of this writing, and totally missed levissocialmediagirl.com. I didn't, I got it while making this post. I'm going to use it by Friday and in a way that will be more effective than what the jeans brand would have done.
That's bad. Levi's job is to mark its online territory.
Levi's effort degrades social media and digital media as a whole. It's the CEO who should be doing this, and calling his culture to do the same, not one woman.  Er,"girl."
Meanwhile, watch this space via levissocialmediagirl.com.



Posted By: Zennie62 (Email)
February 03 2011 at 02:35 PM

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=82387#ixzz1Cwl0I5s3