Levi`s: GO FORTH MEDIA STRATEGY

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: LEVI'S
Agency: OMD
Category: Best Use of Integrated Media
US Group Strategy Director: Brian Gearhart (OMD)
US Digital Strategist: Christina Lim (OMD)
Global Account Director: Patrick Gunn (OMD)
Global Associate Director: Taylor Grimes (OMD)
Group Director/Strategy: Carrie Davis (OMD)
US Strategy Supervisor: Jackie Thames (OMD)

Strategy
Levi’s young, mobile, and media agnostic target craves authenticity and relevance. Levi’s needed a campaign that would speak to a passionate consumer in the distinct cultural voice of the iconic fashion brand, without interrupting their lives with perceived advertising.We developed an entirely new strategic approach that focused on positively disrupting passionate communities and creating authentic experiences on platforms that allowed for as much interaction as possible between Levi’s content and the passionate community.We focused on media integrations and native creative executions in three highly passionate communities: ESPN, HitRECord, and MTV. We then carefully curated and amplified conversations and content, leveraging paid and owned platforms to generate earned media. With Levi’s acting as a content creator and curator, our partnerships yielded creative output that acted as media in an entirely authentic way for each audience.

Effectiveness
Our entirely new way of approaching Levi’s media strategy drove increased engagement in an authentic way and acted as a powerful force that drove increased media consumption. We nearly doubled the one billion planned impressions and received hundreds of thousands of earned media video views across the web. Third party studies confirmed unprecedented, multiplatform, positive social media buzz. The HitRECord campaign inspired three original pieces of content seen by millions. Levi's announced strong earnings in Q1 of 2013 and attributed the success in part to the current global marketing and media efforts.

Execution
With ESPN, we co-created a series of videos with then-unknown Russell Wilson that followed his “Go Forth” journey into his rookie season as an National Football League quarterback. After our deal was signed, he was selected as starting quarterback and our vignette debuted to an audience of millions as a :60 spot on Monday Night Football, which also ran on ESPN’s digital and social platforms.The partnership with HitRECord mirrored a long tradition of Levi’s collaboration with the artistic community. HitRECOrd, an online collaborative music artistic community run by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. No standard media ran as we chose to empower the community to do what it loves while evangelizing the “Go Forth” spirit of the brand. We also worked with MTV’s “Power of 12” to create authentic, unbiased and informational resources for crucial youth voters. The partnership lived on-air and online in various forms including an engaging fantasy election.