Levi's Engineered Jeans Levi’s is the best-known jeans name on the planet. The business was founded by the Strauss family in 1875 and produced jeans for miners out of tent fabric and canvas. It then went on to make jeans from denim which is a coarse, heavy twill fabric. The jeans became popular with miners during the California gold rush and were famous for the twin rivets on the pockets. The business went from strength to strength, to become one of the twentieth century’s best-known global brands. During the 1980’s the company branched out into a range of garments including suits, before refocusing on one of its heritage products Levi 501’s in the early 1990’s. The Levi company has always had a reputation for innovation, bright ideas, excitement, and enthusiasm. However, it has not always been so successful in maintaining the detailed processes necessary to ensure continued product success. By the late 1990’s it was all too apparent that the brand was slipping and needed to be put back on track. Since the 60’s success had been based on the brand’s association with youth culture. During the 1990’s this association began to lose some of its vitality. While sales of the brand continued to grow, it began to suffer from declining equity. By this, we mean that the perception of the brand in terms of the desired position was beginning to slip. While in the 1980’s Levi’s were seen as “cool, youthful and innovative”, market research revealed that this was no longer the case by the late 1990’s. The company had, wrongly, been emphasizing its role in wholesale merchandising - i.e. selling millions of pairs of blue Levi’s to retailers and ensuring good sales volumes and profits for these retailers. However, this focus tended to ignore the consumer. Detailed market research was carried out to obtain a clearer picture of market standing. This included internal areas and external factors. The market research showed that there were too many layers of decision making in the company, and the company was not focused enough on its objective of meeting customer requirements. In addition, the range of new brands on the market had a significant impact on Levi's competitiveness and the effectiveness of retailers in promoting and selling Levi's jeans. The situational analysis revealed that fewer retail stores were stocking Levi’s. In addition, the market research showed that consumers’ awareness of the brand was declining. Comparisons of figures for Spring and Autumn of 1999 showed a reduction in the number of people in the UK who were able to identify the Levi’s brand. Also, fewer people named Levi’s as the most recent brand of jeans that they had purchased. This decline was very small, but it still needed to be stopped.

1. What is the Levi’s brand? Old vrs. New

2. What problem(s) in the case study is Levi’s trying to overcome?

3. What was the research outcome(s)?

4. What new strategy did Levi’s developed to reclaim its brand identity?

5. What was the end goal for Levi’s, and who was the target market for its new strategy? Why?

6. After identifying all the components above, focus on the key element of “communications” and develop an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan (IMC) for Levi’s 'twisted jeans.'