Levi’s
Revitalization of the Brand
NCCU IMBA Marketing Management Course
Professors: Charles Trappey,
Betty Wu 94933001
Joyce Liu 94933013
Cathy Chan 94933015
Dennis Lin 94933023
Charles Ok 94933027
Table of Contents
Ø About Levi’s®
] Levi’s® History
] Company Profile
] Company Transformation
] People’s Brand
] Milestone of Levi’s®
Ø Levi’s® US & Taiwan Markets
] Brand
] Distribution & Pricing
] Promotion
Ø The “Stay True“ Campaign
Ø Customer Survey Analysis
] Demographic Profile
] Ownership of Levi’s
] Consumer Purchasing Behavior
] Brand Loyalty
Ø Conclusion
Birth of Levi Strauss
Levi Strauss, an immigrant from Germany, used canvas to make into waist overalls for miners who went to California for gold mining in mid of 1850’s,. The name of denim came from “serge de Nimes” , named from the place of “Nimes” in French. Its “strong enough to last” pants were designed and patented by cooperation with Mr. David Jocobs. The day that Levi Strauss and David Jocobs obtained a U.S. patent on the process of putting rivets in the men’s working pants for the very first time. This day, May 20, 1873, was the birthday of blue jeans.
Holding this process patent, rivet pants were solely manufactured by Levi Strauss & Co from 1873 to 1890. During this period, an entire generation of people grew up with this notion, which still has strong image in people’s mind. Years later, ever since the
patent went into public domain, the company differentiated their products from others by endowing them with lot numbers. This was an innovative idea that gave Levi’s the strong image of origin of jeans.
Near the end of 19th century, the demand of waist overall was so great that the company needed to secure fabric they needed. Taking advantage of the opportunity ,the company stopped making the garments out of cotton duck. Due to customers preference, customers wanted the garments with more lasting as well as comfortable. So the company focused more on improving the quality of jean. The denim pants, dyed with ingot to make them blue led the company to be expanded quickly.
The two horse brand leather patch is first used on waist overall. Its purpose is to demonstrate the strength of the pants and reinforce our status as originator of patent riveted clothing. The company knew that the patent would go into public domain around 1890 and decided to reinforce their message of originality and strength graphically.
Levi Strauss & Co.
The company is the world’s largest branded apparel manufacturer which has its presence in more than 110 countries with 53 production facilities in worldwide, with number of employees over 10,000 covering 3 continents..
The company sells and manufactures jeans and casual wears as well as sportswear under its various brand names. The products are sold through more than 55,000 retails location, including 65 company owned stores in nine countries.
At Levi Strauss & Co., the company markets their products under the most successful apparel brand in world ; Levi’s ,is one of the most recognized brands in the history of apparel industry, whose range of products cover tops, sweaters, jackets, foot wear, kid’swear, hosiery, eyewear, luggage and home bedding products..
Levi Strauss & Co’s commitment to quality , innovation manifested in many ways throughout history still continues today
Levi’s
Levi’s is the authentic and original jeans for men, women and kids. This brand and design captured the attention , imagination and loyalty of generation of diverse individuals. The brand of Levi’s continue to define the widest range of products available from classic style up to modern and custom made design.
Dockers
In 1986, Dockers was introduced for the brand of casual wears which was at forefront of business casual trend in the U.S.A. and now is leading stylish and comfortable casual wear, which attracts the individuals who seek for versatile and unique styles. This brand was introduced as alternatives to jeans and dress pants. The lines were expanded to men, women , kids, luggage and home bedding products in more than 50 countries in the world.
Levi Strauss Signature
In emergence and success of the mass channel, Levi Strauss Signature was launched in 2003 for value conscious customers. The brand provides customers with high quality, affordable and comfortable casual wear.
Levis® US & Taiwan Markets
Levis®® brand is supposed to be brand for people and with great quality. However, due to the culture and consumer profile’s differences between US and Taiwan, how Levis®® positioning their brand are very different. We will discuss in detail for through the four P analysis –
Product / Brand
Levi Strauss Co. carried total three product lines available both in the US and Taiwan. They are Levis®®, Dockers and Levi Strauss Signature brand.
For these three brands, Levis®® currently is going for the stylish denim clothes brand strategy to differentiate itself from the regular jeans brand. The target customer are the young generation age between 15 to 25 years old with market position as premium level. As for Dockers, it is a casual wear series of line for Levis® and target with 25 and plus people with more khaki fabrics and the price are in the medium range. For Levis® Strauss Signature, it is the cheaper product line among the three to create the jeans for everyone and stay with the original “ People’s Brand” spirit target with the same range of age as Dockers. ( See exhibit 1 as below )
Exhibit 1
Brand / Levis® / DOCKERS / Levi Strauss SignatureCurrent Brand Strategy / Stylish Denim Clothes / Casual Wear / Jeans for Everyone
Target Customer / 15 to 25 year old young generation / 25 and plus / 25 and plus
Market Position / Premium / Medium / Low
Even though the product lines are same between Taiwan and the US, however, in terms of design, it’s difference depends on consumers taste and preferences. Normally in Asia, Levis® consider it as more leading the innovation and new items while US is more rely on their flagship product 501® and remaining Red Tab line.
From the branding map as exhibit 2 , we can find how Levis® positioning their brand in Taiwan market and using it’s existing values to leverage with the trend. Also we can see how Levis® using different influencers to bring up the market’s attention.
Exhibit 2
Brand CultureBrand Story / Customers Prospects / Influencers / Current Brand Strategy
Reputation Influence
/ Old jean brand reborn from 1990 / Hiroshi Fujiwara, KENJI / To have the trend setter using their brand first then influence the massRelationship Influence / A pair of jeans that will not disappoint you / Young generation actors & actress / Keep on innovating their jeans base on their archives
Experience Influences / Stylish yet comfortable / Edison, BOA / To have celebrities wearing it and create the premium value
Symbolism Influences / Authentic, original jeans brand / American cowboy / Emphasize on it’s American heritage with vintage items
Distribution/Place & Pricing
In the US, the distribution of Levis® majority is through wholesaler while in Taiwan, Levis® is moving towards to a 50-50 split in between wholesaler and retailers. The channel between US and Taiwan is also very different, in the US, major selling channel is through hypermart such as Walmart or Costco which carry Levis® Strauss Signature brand and DOCKERS. Another place will be department store which majority display with the Levis® denim series.
In Taiwan, Levis® did try the hypermart at the beginning of 90’s. However, due to the pricing level between two countries are too different, Levis® in Taiwan can not afford to have their brand in hypermart and decrease its “imported goods” image, they took back all the hypermart display and now focus on department store, jeanery and some of the own boutique shop as well as franchised shop.
For pricing, based on research company’s findings, US consumers willing to pay only $25 per pair (above $25 is too expensive and below that should have quality issue) as an optimum while consumers in Taiwan saying that a $90 one is a quality one.Surely, the people’s definition of quality is different everywhere and all depends on how they use the products and depends on occasions.
In Taiwan, people perceived Levis®® is an American brand with heritage and strong with Vintage item and at the same time with strong linkage with youth on innovative fashion and street wear. This is evidenced by how and who wear this brand. In USA , it’s people’s brand and every generation wear it. So, the youth image probably is not that clear and since it’s a brand for people, it’s hard to identify as a “fashion” label.
Promotion
The promotion strategy between the US and Taiwan is also different due to the consumer buying habit is quiet different between two places. In the US, due to the distance to the shop, people usually will have their decision made up in their mind before walk out of their house. Therefore, the purchasing behavior is heavily influenced by the previous recognition on the brand. However, in Taiwan, due to people are out on the street all the time, impulsive buying behaviors are more often to be found.
Due to the different consumer buying behavior, there are different advertisement and promotion focus need to be developed. For the US, TV commercial and print ad are heavily influence the consumer selection. Therefore most of the advertisement efforts are being spent on TV and print ad. In Taiwan, TV is less important when it comes to promotion, but print ad, outdoor ad as well as the influencers playing a significant role on impacting consumer’s buying decision. To promote the right product on the right print media become very important comparing with the States.
While the promotion focus in the States still on TV ad and print ad, in Taiwan, point of sales training is currently the main focus. Since jeans is a very customized product and the selection in Taiwan being so diversified, a well trained sales person at the shop will be the key impact factor to the buying decision. Levi’s in Taiwan is more focus now on how to train their POS representative to attract the customer and how to encourage the buying behavior.
From exhibit 3, we can see how Levi’s Taiwan using different print media to promote their product base on different market segmentation.
Exhibit 3
The Stay True Campaign
Levi’s Original 501 jeans were the first Levi jeans named with their style series number. The design was originally developed by Levis Strauss around 1872. With an almost 135-year of history, 501 has become the world’s most successful manufactured article of clothing. In 1964, a pair of Levi jeans entered into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Early 2006, Levis Strauss & Co. was the highest bidder for an authentic pair of original Levi’s 501 blue jeans, paying up to $100,000 for this particular item (Economist, 2006). The Levi’s 501 nowadays just one of thousands of brands and lines of jeans, but it continue to remain the classic version and the inspiration of all its designer imitations.
Backed in 2004, 501-line was selling around 1% of total Taiwan Levis’ products. For Levi’s, it was a disappointing sales figure as they positioned this line as their top promotional item. Management here in Taiwan was aware the line could be a bit distant for the youth and it was the right time to reintroduce their Red Tab 501 line with the global “Stay True” Campaign theme.
The objective for this campaign was simple, to strengthen Levi’s original jeans proposition and make it relevant to the youth. The strategy carried out for this campaign was endorsed by celebrities with “True to Yourself” attitude using simple English “Stay True” to communicate. Target audiences were coverage to both male and female, mainstream and fashion forwarders with the age group between 15-34 years old. The marketing plan was 360 º holistic integrated campaigns covered from Word-of-Mouth, Advertising & Key Visuals, Levis.com, PR and Publicity, Products, Packaging, and Retail.
This comprehensive campaign started out in Spring/Summer 2004 with Word-of-Mouth, Celebrating Seeding to set the trends, followed with Slogan Sticker Teasers lasted to Spring/Summer 2005. The comprehensive launch didn’t take place until October 2005 with Stay True TVC Campaign, Outdoor Advertising, Print Ad, Media Trip Clippings, 501 limited editions, PR Editorials, Shopping Bag, Retail Display & Window, Internet Blog, Levi.com eDM, and Department Store Promotion. The tonality of the campaign was based on famous music producers as they symbolized “Original Riveted” just like the Levi’s 501 line. Artists Hiroshi Fujiwara, Kenji Furuya, Bird, Dragon Ash, Edison Chen, and Mavis Fan were introduced at appropriate time of the campaign. Currently, the campaign is still on going with spokesperson Edison Chen to carry out the visibility.
EXHIBITS 4 Spokespeople for Levi’s 501 360 º Holistic Integrated Campaigns
M&W, age 15-34 / Mass / Leading edgeHigh Awareness / Edison Chen
Mavis Fan [w] / Kenji
Some Awareness but Strong fashion influence [perceived as fashion icon] / Kenji / H. Fujiwara
Bird [w]
Word-of-Mouth: Stickers Teasers, Celebrities Sampling, and Blog