The campaign, developed by Triangle Pacific in Hong Kong, involves outdoor, print and point-of-sale to spearhead the revitalisation of the Lee brand as it launches its hipster line, where the beltline sits three inches below the wearer's belly button. The campaign is running in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing
The driver of the campaign is a series of limbo rock contests at shopping malls, housing Lee outlets.
Triangle Pacific executive creative director, Rodney Tam, said: "The contests were designed to make the whole thing interactive by challenging people on how low they could go. We even collaborated with (record label) BMG to put together a special remix version of the famous limbo rock song."
Tam said that in the past, Lee was perceived on the mainland as a Chinese company based in the US and which exported goods to China. This was largely because "the name, Lee, sounds like a Chinese name".
At the same time, a study, conducted by Triangle Pacific, also found that people associated jeans with cowboys, the wild west, freedom and passion.
"The newly-launched campaign aims to give Lee the image of being a trendsetter, having passion as well as underlining its American heritage, Tam said.
Lee's US origin is highlighted in print materials with the line: 'Founded Kansas, USA, 1889'.
Half-a-million university students were also targeted in a direct mail drive, while female office workers were approached in a door-to-door initiative at office buildings.
Tam said that the target audience consisted of people at the upper end of the market. "We are trying to appeal to the sons and daughters of rich Chinese families and young and upcoming executives simply because the product is positioned as an expensive brand. A pair of Lee jeans would typically retail for 650 Rmb (US$79), which is a third of the average monthly salary in the big cities, he said.
Although China is the focus of activities, Hong Kong has been included in Lee's geographic coverage with a print burst in the second-largest Chinese-language newspaper, Apple Daily.
VF Group jeans-manufacturing subsidiary, HD Lee, recently appointed Triangle Pacific to handle the Lee and Wrangler brands.
It is the first time that HD Lee has appointed an ad agency to its jeans brands, which previously ran with creative work developed by a centralised unit in the US and media-buying handled by in-house teams.
Triangle Pacific's brief includes both creative and media planning and buying for both brands.
