CASE STUDY: Levi's reaches out to party animals in China

Background

In an ever competitive fashion market, Levi’s wanted to reach trendy youth in Greater China with its new After Dark collection, which featured party-appropriate looks in dark colours and slim cuts. 

Aim

Levi’s goal was to promote this party attire to boost sales during the festive holiday season when people are most likely to go out and celebrate. Their strategy was to create an interactive online platform that allowed teens to create their very own 'night-time' story. 

Execution

Levi’s created an online 'Rule the night' platform allowing users to create an original, tailored story using the fun, exciting activities that occur at night.

To launch the campaign, Levi’s ran trailer videos in cinemas and across social media platforms YouTube and Tudou. 

Interactive banners were placed across key websites to drive awareness and create buzz.

To promote the campaign in store, Levi’s offered 'night passes' to anyone who tried on clothing from the After Dark collection, which offered discounts at restaurants, clubs, cinemas, karaoke bars and beauty shops, further promoting the night-time theme. 

The first of its kind in the Greater China market, the interactive videos launched a couple of weeks later and were featured on a microsite and across social media platforms, encouraging teens to select the outcome of each story to create their own night-time adventure.

The videos used real characters and offered multiple storylines to choose from, such as going to the beach, a nightclub, or staying in.  Each option took the audience further into the narrative, creating a tailored interactive video experience. 

Via the microsite, teenagers could play the game, view the Levi’s After Dark collection, download wallpaper, watch 'making of' videos and see how local celebrities and trendsetters ruled their own nights. 

In China, users could submit their own 'Rule the night' stories to win a pair of jeans from the After Dark collection.

In addition to the digital components, 'Rule the night' was supported by OOH, print, and magazine advertorials.

Results

The campaign successfully promoted Levi’s new After Dark collection with a 33 per cent increase in sales over the same time last year.  In addition, almost 300,000 night-time stories were created and more than 2.7 million people viewed the teaser trailer. 

In addition to performing well with audiences, the campaign won at the 2011 Asian Media Effectiveness Awards for Best Use of Branded Content.

The campaign ran from December 2010 to February 2011.

Credits:

Campaign name Levi’s Rule the night
Agency TBWA Tequila Hong Kong
Account services Florence Kong, Pauline Wong, Jennifer Li, Hagan Chan
Executive creative director Mark Ringer
Group creative director Esther Wong
Associate creative directors Ken Hui , Mike Wu
Art directors Jacqueline Hung, Joe Chow
Head of digital creative Betty Ho
Digital producer Charles Ko
Senior motion art director Liou Ming
Senior digital art director Pan Wai Lam
Exposure Online, Print, OOH, POP