(Extracted from How Asia Advertises by Jim Aitchison)

Demonstrating Originality

The Problem:

Levi's had successfully launched Engineered Jeans in Japan . The brand had originated the category – a new jeans product with an innovative “twisted-to-fit” design concept: the seams run over the knees rather than straight down the legs, the hip pocket slant, and the bottoms are cut so they do not trail. The new product retailed for ¥13,000 (US$60). Levi's predicted that the Engineered Jeans category (also known as EJs or 3D jeans would eventually occupy 20% of their core customers' wardrobes. Hailed as the new blueprint for denim, Levi's was banking on its Engineered Jeans to help win back the brand's global leadership status vis-à-vis surfwear, cargo pants and hip-hop clothing styles.

The initial launch with Japanese pop star Takuya Kimura had been tremendously successful. Next, the campaign had to roll out across Asia and combat brands such as Edwin, Uniqlo, Wrangler, Evisu and Gap, which were promoting similar products. It was important to establish that out only were Levi's the Original Jeans, but they were also the Original Engineered Jeans.

The Strategy:

There was a strong desire to create something more than just another off-the-shelf campaign “for-the-kids”. The jeans market was cynical about advertising. Given budget limitations and the high cost of media in Japan , the campaign would need to break the mould in terms of creativity and customer involvement.

The answer was to make the campaign physically interactive at a very inclusive street level – to hand much of it over to the people who were buying the jeans. Levi's was famous for its brand values – creativity, originality and individualism – so why not let the customers express their own originality in a pair of Levi's Engineered Jeans?

The canvas was the world's largest photocopier – a Dai Nippon scanner – big enough, in fact, to accommodate a human being ! Pop stars and actual Levi's customers were invited to hop up onto the copier (nicknamed The Originator) and create their own completely original poster.

Instant poster printouts were individually captioned: The Original (your name here). The Original Engineered Jeans. Levi's.

 The campaign was self-generating and each poster was unique in itself. The photocopier was located in the Original Levi's Store, Tokyo . People came in off the street, bought a pair of Levi's, climbed up onto the copier and expressed their originality. Each printout became a dramatic, instant point-of-sale poster. Takuya Kimura kicked off the campaign. Other famous stars like Karen Mok followed. The library of images grew, forming a gallery of the coolest people in town. Everyone wanted to be part of it. Suddenly, Levi's didn't have one star, but hundreds. Nor did it have just one or two executions, but countless.

The scans were digitally stored. They instantly became print ads and posters, as well as the raw material for TV advertising. Multiple scans of some people were used to make 15-seconds commercials. Some images were selected for other markets, for example appearing super-sized on Singapore buses. The campaign had viral potential. Images were also uploaded to a Levi's website, www.trueoriginals.levi.com forming a community of cool and original Levi's people.

The Result:

By the end of 2000, Levi's Engineered Jeans sales had stabilized at close to 9% of total sales ex-warehouse for Levi Strauss Japan . During the launch period of the campaign, Levi's Engineered Jeans sales increased to 21.9% of sales in February 2001 and 16.9% in March 2001.

The Original Levi's Store had seen very strong sales in Levi's Engineered Jeans over the campaign period. For example, March 2001 saw an increase of almost 49% over February.

Long Term Brand Scores (end 1999 – 2001), which was measured by Millward Brown, registered particular success. Since the initial launch of Levi's Engineered Jeans in 1999, “Advertising awareness” had risen from about 27% to a peak over 68% at the conclusion of the most recent advertising burst in 2001. Scores for “Heard something about recently” had risen from less than 26% before the initial launch to well over 55% in 2001. The all-important image attribute of “Jeans for those who set the trends” had seen constant increases from an initial 41% to over 63% in 2001. Levi's had dramatically improved its performance as a “Brand that sells innovative fashion”, scoring a hefty 44% on that measure and outshining its nearest competitor Edwin by over 30%. The brand had also performed very well on many slow-changing brand image attributes including “Individual” and “Self-confident”.