Levi’s is leaning in with two things that very few fashion brands can match — 172 years worth of history and a tie-up with Beyoncé Knowles-Carter to bring it to life.
Outside the rarefied world of high luxury, the kind of longevity Levi’s has had is rare. The brand has more or less done it all, outfitting Gold Rush prospectors and rock ‘n rollers a like.
As Levi’s has reintroduced itself to each generation, it’s rolled out new products, new tag lines and new ads.
Now Queen Bey is helping the denim pioneer tell some of its story, recontextualizing its famous advertising spots from the 1980s and ’90s and giving them a modern zing.
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The quick social media-friendly ads feature Knowles-Carter in ways that further Levi’s current business imperatives — like its growing women’s business or head-to-toe denim dressing — and open a window on the brand’s deep past. (There are also a bunch of Knowles-Carter Easter Eggs too.)
Kenny Mitchell, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Levi’s, described the campaign as “two icons coming together.”
Knowles-Carter has some history with Levi’s, having worked with the brand during her super low-rise days as part of Destiny’s Child.
But the two really connected last year when the “Cowboy Carter” album featured the song “Levii’s Jeans” with Post Malone.
That ultimately led to the collaboration, which so far has remade Levi’s iconic “Launderette” ad from 1985 and “Pool Hall” from 1991.
In “Launderette,” Knowles-Carter gives her take on the role that launched Nick Kamen’s career, going into a laundromat and stripping down to her underwear, while her jeans are distressed in a washer filled with diamonds.
The campaign generated nearly 2.4 billion press impressions and more than 107 million social impressions.
Levi’s followed that up in February with “Pool Hall,” where the singer takes on the local pool hustler and wins.
While much of the message is the same, the ads flip the script on the original versions in a few important ways.
“If you look at some of the iconic, amazing work that’s in our vault, it is very much centered on the male protagonists,” Mitchell said. “Often white male protagonists that are kind of leading the story. They are the center of the narrative and have women that are ogling after them.
“In these stories that we’ve been telling, it’s been centering a woman and centering them in a more powerful light, a beautiful light, and makes us really, really excited and really proud,” he said. “And it’s a woman of color too. So it’s really shifting the perspective of a bit of an iconic story and telling in a way that’s super relevant for our times right now.”
As modern as the message is, there are also lots of winks and nods to the past, making for a postmodern or hip-hop tinged take on reaching shoppers today.
“We’re not a heritage brand,” Mitchell said. “We are a brand with heritage. And the goal of this campaign is actually to continue to build on that legacy for this generation.”
The ads are filled with classic Levi’s ads, which play up the brand’s long association with cowboy culture and therefore also sync up with the singer’s latest album.
The keeper of Levi’s archive and cultural legacy is the company’s historian, Tracey Panek.
“We are a blue jean brand from the American West Coast, and we’ve always been one to kind of push the boundaries a little bit,” Panek said.
In the 1980s, that included working with London advertising firm BBH, which created the original ads that the brand has now remade with Knowles-Carter.
The goal of the original “Launderette” spotlighting then-aspiring pop star Kamen was to get shoppers to focus on the Levi’s 501 — the riveted denim jeans that had morphed from work pants to symbol of cool.
“The ad — which was intended to help reignite the 501, if you will — caught the attention of the people of the day,” Panek said. “They could relate to it because of the music.”
The commercial also featured “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye, which reappeared on the music charts after the spot started to run. Six years later, “Pool Hall” featured The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go.”
“The idea of combining classic music with a classic garment, it was a good combination,” Panek said.
But before Levi’s rocked and rolled, the brand has also spent a lot of time metaphorically out on the range, featuring many cowboys in profile over the decades.
That is a theme also picked up with Knowles-Carter, whose image appears in silhouette on horseback. The references that echo across the decades, even as they point to similar aesthetics, bring a cohesiveness to the marketing.
Levi’s has also managed to have good timing, linking with Knowles-Carter just as she is grabbing a bit more of the spotlight. The timing for the original ads also worked.
The first “Laundrette” as was launched on Dec. 26, Boxing Day in the U.K.
“Sales just soared by hundreds of percent,” Panek said. “It was huge. And it was a huge change for the company.”
Now Levi’s is connecting with Knowles-Carter and online sleuths looking for hidden signs.
In the background of “Laundrette,” there’s a sign of Uncle Johnny Tailoring, a reference to Knowles-Carter’s uncle, who served as a source of inspiration. (“Laundrette” also features Bob Dylan’s grandson, Levi Dylan, as one of the people keeping a close eye on Knowles-Carter as she strips off her jeans and puts them in the washer.)
Chapter 1 of the campaign ends with Knowles-Carter, waiting in her underwear for her washing to be done and reading a newspaper declaring “Pool Shark Hustles Town,” hinting at Chapter 2 with “Pool Hall.” It won’t be clear just how Chapter 3 fits in until it drops.
