Levi’s is leaning in with two issues that only a few trend manufacturers can match — 172 years value of historical past and a tie-up with Beyoncé Knowles-Carter to carry it to life.
Exterior the rarefied world of excessive luxurious, the sort of longevity Levi’s has had is uncommon. The model has roughly performed all of it, outfitting Gold Rush prospectors and rock ‘n rollers a like.
As Levi’s has reintroduced itself to every era, it’s rolled out new merchandise, new tag strains and new adverts.
Now Queen Bey helps the denim pioneer inform a few of its story, recontextualizing its well-known promoting spots from the Eighties and ’90s and giving them a contemporary zing.
The short social media-friendly adverts characteristic Knowles-Carter in ways in which additional Levi’s present enterprise imperatives — like its rising ladies’s enterprise or head-to-toe denim dressing — and open a window on the model’s deep previous. (There are additionally a bunch of Knowles-Carter Easter Eggs too.)
Beyonce x Levi’s remade the model’s “Laundrette” advert for his or her Reiimagine collaboration.
Courtesy of Levi
Kenny Mitchell, senior vice chairman and chief advertising officer at Levi’s, described the marketing campaign as “two icons coming collectively.”
Knowles-Carter has some historical past with Levi’s, having labored with the model throughout her tremendous low-rise days as a part of Future’s Youngster.
However the two actually linked final 12 months when the “Cowboy Carter” album featured the track “Levii’s Denims” with Submit Malone.
That in the end led to the collaboration, which thus far has remade Levi’s iconic “Launderette” advert from 1985 and “Pool Corridor” from 1991.
In “Launderette,” Knowles-Carter provides her tackle the function that launched Nick Kamen’s profession, going right into a laundromat and stripping all the way down to her underwear, whereas her denims are distressed in a washer full of diamonds.
The marketing campaign generated almost 2.4 billion press impressions and greater than 107 million social impressions.
Levi’s adopted that up in February with “Pool Corridor,” the place the singer takes on the native pool hustler and wins.
Whereas a lot of the message is identical, the adverts flip the script on the unique variations in just a few necessary methods.
“In case you have a look at among the iconic, superb work that’s in our vault, it is rather a lot centered on the male protagonists,” Mitchell mentioned. “Typically white male protagonists which can be sort of main the story. They’re the middle of the narrative and have ladies which can be ogling after them.
“In these tales that we’ve been telling, it’s been centering a girl and centering them in a extra highly effective gentle, a fantastic gentle, and makes us actually, actually excited and actually proud,” he mentioned. “And it’s a girl of shade too. So it’s actually shifting the angle of a little bit of an iconic story and telling in a method that’s tremendous related for our occasions proper now.”
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter for Levi’s.
Courtesy of Levi’s
As fashionable because the message is, there are additionally a lot of winks and nods to the previous, making for a postmodern or hip-hop tinged tackle reaching consumers at the moment.
“We’re not a heritage model,” Mitchell mentioned. “We’re a model with heritage. And the aim of this marketing campaign is definitely to proceed to construct on that legacy for this era.”
The adverts are full of basic Levi’s adverts, which play up the model’s lengthy affiliation with cowboy tradition and due to this fact additionally sync up with the singer’s newest album.
A basic Levi’s advert that reappears in a brand new Beyoncé Knowles-Carter spot.
Courtesy of Levi’s
The keeper of Levi’s archive and cultural legacy is the corporate’s historian, Tracey Panek.
“We’re a blue jean model from the American West Coast, and we’ve all the time been one to sort of push the boundaries somewhat bit,” Panek mentioned.
Within the Eighties, that included working with London promoting agency BBH, which created the unique adverts that the model has now remade with Knowles-Carter.
The aim of the unique “Launderette” spotlighting then-aspiring pop star Kamen was to get consumers to give attention to the Levi’s 501 — the riveted denim denims that had morphed from work pants to image of cool.
“The advert — which was meant to assist reignite the 501, if you’ll — caught the eye of the folks of the day,” Panek mentioned. “They might relate to it due to the music.”
The industrial additionally featured “I Heard It By the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye, which reappeared on the music charts after the spot began to run. Six years later, “Pool Corridor” featured The Conflict’s “Ought to I Keep or Ought to I Go.”
“The concept of mixing basic music with a basic garment, it was mixture,” Panek mentioned.
However earlier than Levi’s rocked and rolled, the model has additionally spent lots of time metaphorically out on the vary, that includes many cowboys in profile over the many years.
A basic Levi’s cowboy advert that reveals up within the new marketing campaign.
Courtesy of Levi’s
That could be a theme additionally picked up with Knowles-Carter, whose picture seems in silhouette on horseback. The references that echo throughout the many years, at the same time as they level to related aesthetics, carry a cohesiveness to the advertising.
Levi’s is amplifying its references to cowboy tradition with the “Cowboy Carter.”
Courtesy of Levi’s
Levi’s has additionally managed to have good timing, linking with Knowles-Carter simply as she is grabbing a bit extra of the highlight. The timing for the unique adverts additionally labored.
The primary “Laundrette” as was launched on Dec. 26, Boxing Day within the U.Ok.
“Gross sales simply soared by a whole bunch of p.c,” Panek mentioned. “It was large. And it was an enormous change for the corporate.”
Now Levi’s is connecting with Knowles-Carter and on-line sleuths in search of hidden indicators.
Within the background of “Laundrette,” there’s an indication of Uncle Johnny Tailoring, a reference to Knowles-Carter’s uncle, who served as a supply of inspiration. (“Laundrette” additionally options Bob Dylan’s grandson, Levi Dylan, as one of many folks protecting a detailed eye on Knowles-Carter as she strips off her denims and places them within the washer.)
Chapter 1 of the marketing campaign ends with Knowles-Carter, ready in her underwear for her washing to be performed and studying a newspaper declaring “Pool Shark Hustles City,” hinting at Chapter 2 with “Pool Corridor.” It received’t be clear simply how Chapter 3 matches in till it drops.
