From the Economic Times

Through the 1990s, there were a few brands that most creative people would give an arm, a leg and just about any other body part to work on. Levi’s was one of them. Its commercials were strikingly original and different, sometimes surpassing the production values of the programming around which they were aired. It was among the most aspirational brands in the world.

It’s tough to keep up such a high level of consumer interest in a market and media scenario that’s changed seismically. And that’s pretty much what John Anderson’s job is. The president and CEO of Levi’s is making sure the brand remains sexy and relevant in a world where the mindspace of cool is more cluttered than it has ever been. Anderson holds forth on being one of advertising’s favourite clients, profits with principles and how the 155 year old brand makes its legacy work for it instead of against it.

Levi’s was one of the most iconic brands of the era when TV was the absolute dominant media vehicle. How have you adapted to the emergence of digital and interactive media? Social marketing will fundamentally change the way we build our brand. 10 years ago, we’d put a big TV commercial on air, have great production and push that message. It still plays a role, but by itself it’s not enough. You have to be able to build communities. Instead of a push message, you really want consumers to be the ambassadors for your brand. And you have to build that on a one to one relationship. We are pushing our marketing spend a lot more than we did in the past on Facebook, Twitter and these digital communities.

Facebook is a classic example. We have 150,000 fans on Facebook in India alone. In the US we have the Levi’s Guy and the Levi’s Girl on Twitter; constantly tweeting what’s going on in the Levi’s world. On YouTube we’ve released many of our TV commercials and also do specific small cameo ads. It’s a lot more difficult to measure but we firmly believe this is the right way.

We are also starting to use the technology of the virtual world to get people to understand what their fit is, for Curve Id (Levi’s recently launched women’s jeans range). When they go to the store, they can now say I am a demi-curve waist 33, and I want my jeans in boot cut stonewash. Eventually they’ll be able to do that online as well: go to a digital fit room, find what’s right, push the purchase button and get that delivered to their door. We are customising the product, the shopping experience and delivery. We are around three months away from implementing this in the US. The signifiers of cool have expanded to include everything from portable gaming systems to tablet PCs to mobile phones. How important are jeans in this ecosystem?

People still want to look good. Jeans are a part of this lifestyle. If you want to feel cool with your iPad or the type of phone you use, that’s one side of who you are but on the other side is how you look. Given it’s a 155 year old brand, Levi’s faces the danger of losing traction with younger consumers, of becoming “my dad’s brand.” How do you turn that corner?
We don’t want to lose the older consumers, either. What we focussed on was innovation targeted towards youth. We’ve set up a state of the art design development location in Istanbul, Turkey, focussing on youth, finishing technology and new fabric technology. We’ve also set up a new division based in Amsterdam called Double X where we have a global vintage collection and our more recent collection called Made and Crafted which is the best in five pocket jeans. We take that newness and drip it down through the Levi’s brand.
And we also have three design centres around the world in Hong Kong, Brussels and San Francisco. The strength of who we are with this global footprint enables us to stay very close to the market. We then take those trends and interpret them either through Double X in Amsterdam or the design technology centres. No other jeans brand in the world has the capability and the footprint to do that. And truly today, dads love our brands and the youth aspire to it.

STITCH in TIME

Many market leaders and brands that create categories are often outpaced by nimbler , younger competition at least when it comes to innovations in product or design. Would you say this is true of Levi’s ?
Absolutely not! Trends move too fast today. As a fast follower in apparel, you are never going to be dominant. The life cycle of a trend was two years half a decade ago. Today it is down to six to 12 months. We are absolutely committed to set and drive trends and that’s what being a leader is about.

Could you give us an example of a recent trend that you were able to drive around the world?

The whole low rise trend started in Brazil. As we start each season, our designers from around the world will input what’s happening in their market. It comes together in the brand meetings and then we push that across the world. You need to have people in the marketplace all the time; designers who understand when the trends are happening.