Strategic Initiatives at Levi Strauss and Company

For the first two years of his tenure President Anderson worked to take care of the basics at LS&Co. In mid 2008, a new global advertising campaign was unveiled with the ‘Live Life Unbuttoned’ tagline. It focused on the traditional 501s with the button fly and it was the first world wide coordinated advertising campaign. It was very successful in elevating and reinforcing the Levi brand image. The core brand accounted for about 76% of sales in 2008 which translates to approximately $3.27 billion. This represents an increase of about 3% of sales over 2007 and 6% over 2006. The total Levi’s advertising expenditure was $297.9 million worldwide. The message that Anderson took from these stats was that a single global message could drive results and elevate the awareness of the iconic brand.


Even with the global economy on the decline, Anderson chose to take advantage of the company’s size and resources to boost brand image while competitors were doing less advertising. Jaime Cohen Szulic Chief Marketing Officer of Levi’s is embracing mobile media and moving the marketing strategy forward very quickly. The website in Singapore is a good example. He feels that courting the potential for consumers to be advocates and not just loyal is where the future will be made. “If you enact changes for the people, they will carry your brand,” he said. “It’s about moving from loyalty to advocacy. “Brand loyalty is very passive, but brand advocacy is about being active, not passive. .He believes that online advertising should be fun. Levi Strauss & Co. plans to build on traditional advertising campaigns by adding digital channels such as social media and mobile to the mix. At a conference in April of 2010, Szulc, who is also VP of Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco stated that the “important trends that are driving change include faster product lifecycles and challenging macro-economics, as well as the increasingly complex marketing mix. The reason why the Internet and digital channels [such as mobile] are so important, they touch the core of human values—the need to connect, the need to feel loved and the need to feel productive, which can be really difficult to do in real life.”

Last month, the first official Levi’s/Fader Fort application for iPhone and Android launched. While traditional television, print and out-of-home advertising is still integral to Levi’s marketing strategy, the brand is increasingly using digital channels such as mobile to complement and enhance that strategy. “As market becomes more fragmented, we want to have more control over our consumer experience, both online and at retail outlets,” Mr. Cohen-Szulc said. “Going global means you lose control of the dialog and you have to manage that dialog. “In the digital space, it’s not necessarily a controlled environment, so as a brand you have to lose a little bit of control to gain other advantages,” he said. New technologies and new consumer behavior is pushing marketing toward a tipping point, according to the Levi’s executive. “Consumers are in the driver’s seat more than ever, and they only care about what’s original, real and relevant to me,” Mr. Cohen-Szulc said. “The strategic role of each marketing mix element is changing by the minute. “We wanted to change course and eliminate stagnancy by being disruptive with our Go Forth campaign,” he said.