Ad of the Week: Levi's

Much of success in advertising is dependent on those that are extremely talented mixed with a client willing to take a risk and, in some ways even more so, being in the right place at just the right time.

When the Levi's account was won away from BBH by Wieden Kennedy, I was a little worried because BBH had done some notable good work for Levis especially with one of their last pieces, Strange Love. Yet with Wieden Kennedy's release of this series of two ads including this first anthem, America. It was clear the WK was putting a very unique stamp on the Levi's brand that should prove fruitful for quite some time.

As always from WK, it's excellent art direction, great writing, cohesive branding, good music and a distinctive voice. The reason I feel these ads were released at such a perfect time is that they are keying into the same audience that Pepsi and Coke have attempted to with Refresh Everything and Open Happiness, the young generation that looks at all the issues in front of us as the human race and has a positive viewpoint of what they can do to improve it. Its keying into the new generation of "pioneers" looking to explore and put their unique stamp on things and all of these emotions and aspirations are now being housed within the Levi's brand. The ads themselves went live shortly after Obama had stepped into office. It was a time when many Americans had come off of the high of the political campaigns and now felt refreshed making history with one of the first african american president's in history.

Yet, with anything, the consumer and the dollar is the true judge of wether this campaign is successful or not; but, I wouldn't be surprised if this helped increase sales over the next few years.

Agency: Wieden Kennedy

Are Brands Dead?

With the rise of short lived digital experiences, the removal of coke from Cost Co and the reduction of major name brands from the shelves of Walmart, the question on many people’s minds is: Are brand names still powerful?

At present, major name brands are putting more attention on creating utility for their consumers and straying away from big budget commercials. An example of this is Pepsi deciding to not run any super bowl ads this year and instead invested that money into charitable giving driven by the consumer. Yet, is this really a mark of straying away from inflating their brand? In the end, we are going through hard economic times and companies are being judged more than ever when looking at what they are doing for their consumers. Pepsi can with hold from doing brand ads and give the money away instead because they already have such a strong brand clout from previous years.

In the future, many are predicting that brands will have to move away from heavy branding because consumers are wanting to live within their means and see it reflected in media. Yet, shifting from showing an extravagant life to one of means isn’t the removal of brand. Branding can just as easily be about living frugally or responsibly. Toyota is an excellent example of this from leveraging their minor green traits they have created a cult following and even in spite of their major recalls, polls consistently show that their consumers still believe in them. By investing in their customer base, their customers are willing to forgive them.

In the past, the great Marlboro Friday scare in 1993 created the declaration that the brand name was dead. Yet since 1993 strong brand names have been established or reestablished to have created stronger cult followings than we have seen in the past including Target, Toyota and Apple. So is this latest declaration another fable or a true shift in advertising?

Although this economic climate could mean the death to some brands often it’s the ones that forget that they need to continue to grow, change and innovate to stay on top. Just because the brands are moving into the digital space doesn’t mean the brand is dead but simply that it is yet again adapting for the better.