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.