Levis 501 Jeans ''Unbuttoned'' Campaign Ripped Finish 0480

[xzibit]

what do you all make of the levi's unbuttoned campaign?

see there are some on house rocker:



The inspiration for the campaign came from the commercials created last year by Bartle Bogle that showed a hunky young man finding a date after putting on a pair of 501 jeans. In one version, the date was female. In another version — which made its debut on Logo, then ran on channels like Bravo — the date was male.

“Advertising and marketing are changing really radically,” said Robert Cameron, vice president for marketing for the Levi’s brand at Levi Strauss in San Francisco.

“It’s all about engagement,” he added. “You want to offer something of value to your consumers, and your brand rides along.”

For Levi’s 501, the company is “tailoring content to a range of consumers,” Mr. Cameron said, who in addition to gay men and lesbians include “urban, African-American males and young, style-conscious women.”

Some ads with gay or lesbian themes draw complaints from consumers who prefer traditional approaches to peddling products.

For instance, posters in London carrying the headline “South Carolina is so gay,” meant to attract visitors from Europe, were recently withdrawn by the state’s department of parks, recreation and tourism, and the employee who approved them resigned.

“When we ran our dual creative last year,” Mr. Cameron said, referring to the spots with the different dates, “we got one negative response.”
“We try to imagine what the world will be like 5, 10 years from now,” he added, “and market that way today.”

Additionally, “the gay community has been extremely loyal to Levi’s,” Mr. Cameron said, not only for ads aimed at gay and lesbian shoppers but also because of pioneering policies at Levi Strauss in areas like benefits for domestic partners of employees.

Michael Wilke, executive director at the Commercial Closet Association in New York, which tracks the representation of gay men and lesbians in marketing, said campaigns like those for 501 jeans “still haven’t been done that much.”

But such ads may “represent the future of advertising for a lot of companies,” said Mr. Wilke, who maintains an online archive of advertising imagery (commercialcloset.org).

“They appeal, obviously, to the gay or lesbian audience,” he added, “and it gives the companies a certain credibility for progressiveness with general audiences, especially those in the MTV generation who grew up with messages of inclusiveness.”

The work by Digital Kitchen, ranging from 15 seconds to 2 minutes, features gay men and lesbians, singles and couples. They all wear 501 jeans; in some videos, they remove their shirts.

In one video, a man describes his tattoos, composed of words like “Faith” and “Patience.” If he gets another, he says, laughing, “my mom will kill me.”
In another video, a lesbian couple discusses what drew them together (food, cooking, “gorgeous eyes” and a “wonderful smile”).

“They had to be cast with real people,” said Dave Skaff, executive producer at the Digital Kitchen New York office, “because the stories had to be real.”
Of the more than 100 people who auditioned for the campaign, 10 were chosen to appear.

“They are pretty easy on the eyes, but not models in the traditional sense,” said Mark Bashore, head of creative at Digital Kitchen. “We were looking for their quirks, their imperfections, rather than beauty.”

[CD]

I would say a campaign like this could be quite risky for a brand. However I'm not sure it would affect Levis that much. I can't see Levis having a hugely loyal fan base that would stop buying the product because of this campaign. So Levis could probably get away with it - they have been quite 'forward' with their campaigns in the past and do make very memorable adverts.

I could see this type of thing failing and having a negative effect on other brands. Could never see Stone Island doing this or a classic brand like Aquascutum or Burberry who have a loyal customer base.

[Dunnymonster]

Brands that aim their products at a strict demographic need to be very wary of alienating their customer base. In an attempt to re invent themselves many brands loose their loyal buyers. Sometimes it invigorates the brand and allows it expand, other times the company falls flat on its face. Marketing is much more complex now than it has ever been.