Levi's faced declining sales in the early 1990s as their jeans were seen as "uncool" by young customers. Rap music and new subcultures were popular among youth at the time but Levi's was not connecting with these audiences. To maintain market share, Levi's needed to attract young people by changing their products, branding, positioning, and communications. Levi's launched a new "anti-fit" urban street approach for their 501 jeans with a lower cut, looser fit, and baggier look to appeal to teens and young adults. Their advertising also shifted to a more urban, sexy style to change the brand's image among this target audience.

1. LEVI’S
Case study analysis
Olya Dyachuk ,
Fernanda S. Russo,
Karim H. Hussien,
Abiodun Ogundele
Lecturer: Dr Wilson Ozuem

2. Overview
Levi’s faced a problem that their jeans were
increasingly regarded as ‘uncool’ in the
beginning of 1990s what lead to the fallen in
sales.
The poor connection with young customers in
terms of rap music popularity growth and a new
subculture phenomenon development was the
major reason.
To maintain the current market share and expand
it Levi’s had to find a way to attract young
audience through changes in their products,
brands, positioning and communications.

3. Company background
 1853 - Founded in San Francisco by
Levi Strauss
 1902 – Levi Strauss dies at the age of 73
 1947 – 501 model starts coming off the
production line
 1966 – The first television commercial
for Levi’s jeans aired.
 1981 – 501 jeans for women were
introduced.
 Today the products are sold under
Levi’s, Dockers, Denizen and signature
by Levi Strauss & Co.

4. THE BRAND
ANATOMY OF LEVI’S
David Jobber and John Fahy 2009

5. THE BRAND
ANATOMY OF LEVI’S
• Brand domain the brand's target market. This explains the target market of
Levi's which are majorly the younger generations
• Brand assets the distinctive features of a brand.
• Brand values the core values and characteristics of a brand. This is the core
attitude of Levi’s brand
• Brand heritage the background to the brand and its culture.
• Brand personality the character of a brand described in terms of other entities
such as people, animals and objects.
• Brand reflection the relationship of the brand to self-identity.
The brand positioning was changed because it was no more appealing to the
target audience and that was why the sales fell from $7.1b in 1996 to $5.1b in
1999 because the younger generations found other competitors that are more
appealing like Gap, Diesel, Wrangler. The competitors product was adopted
instead of Levi’s because the brand domain of Levi’s was neglected the younger
generations.

6. POSITIONING
“ Although brand positions, like brands
themselves, exist in people’s heads and hearts,
a company’s marketing communications can
greatly influence how customers perceive a
brand in relation to competition” (Hans
Ouwersloot and Tom Ducan, 2008)
Is it retrievable?
Massive market
 Young consumers
Maintain the idea that Levis is again the cool
brand
 Sponsoring and supporting musicians,
bands and concerts
 Introduce brand name into target
consumers’ clubs, concert venues,
websites and fanzines
 Relaunch famous collection

7. Restoration of a successful
brand
“Fulfillment of customer needs, or delivering
customer value, in turn increases customer
loyalty” (Laitamaki&Kordupleski, 1997;
Gronholdt, Martensen&Kristensen,
2000;Blattberg, Getz&Thomas, 2001)
•From 1999-2005 Levi's has launch a new
product to keep up with the ever changing
consumer needs.
•Reinforcing itself through tailored products
for different customer bases.
•With the launch of a new product a
supportive campaign is created .

8. Restoration of a successful
brand
“Brands add value by differentiating
the firm’s product and providing
consumers with confidence in the
rational and emotional benefits of the
offering” (Doyle, 2001)
•With the opening of a new levi’s un-
branded store, targeting ‘cultural
connoisseurs’.
•The use of a guerilla technique called
“self-discovery”.

9. Restoration of a successful
brand
“A Source of competitive advantages
that is getting increasing attention
comes from creating, communicating,
and delivering superior value to
customer” (Woodruff and
Garndial,1996; Woodruff, 1997)
•Altering the approach to massified
promotion with the use of viral
communication to penetrate the youth
culture.
•Gently pushing towards the idea that
Levi’s is “cool”

10. ‘Anti-Fit’ – new urban
street approach
•Levi’s was on the Decline stage.
•However the brand was well-known and had a
strong heritage (since 1873).
STP Process (Baines, Fill, and Page, 2011, p.217)
•501 was one of the Brands in the line that could
be revive. It had to target the hip-looking 15-24 teens
and young adults group.
•The Brand’s image was radically changed. From Objectives at different stages of
the more epic style of ads with a more urban street adaption and life cycle.
approach. Sexy, flirting, free. (Dahlén, M., Lange, F., and
Smith, T., 2009, p.96)
Dahlén, M., Lange, F., and Smith, T., 2009. Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Baines, Fill, and Page, 2011. Marketing. Oxford: Oxford University Press)

11. Jeans design
Free, sexy, stylish, fashionable
design attracts young
audience:
 low cut
 loose fitting
 baggy look
To wear the new 501
to look cool.

12. Advertising strategy.
In terms of creating a new image among target audience 501 had to set a Feeling
based objective to change attitude through the development of brand identity and
image (Egan, 2007, p.108).
Advertisers go through three steps (Kotler and Keller, 2012, p. 507):

13. Questions