2012 PRO Award Finalist: Grow Marketing for Dockers/Levi Strauss & Co.
Dockers, known for its khakis since 1986, embarked on a journey to reinvigorate the khaki category, with a new and improved Signature Khaki line and Soft Khakis collection in stores nationwide.
With today’s millennials selecting competitive brands, it was vital to modernize the brand image and re-insert it into the cultural conversation. Dockers created the Alpha Khaki – a jeans-inspired, premium slim khaki created for the modern man.
Tasked with driving trial and engagement and generating buzz around the product among a youthful and modern target who were not core consumers of the brand, Grow Marketing created “Are You an Alpha Fan?,” a national promotion that introduced the brand’s new offerings to millennials by tapping into the target’s passion for sports, beer and buddies. Sexy ambassadors infiltrated popular sports bars nationwide known to be local haunts of hipsters and young professionals on a key college football game day (Saturday, September 17, 2011).
Guys were dared to drop their pants in the middle of a crowded bar to try on a pair of Dockers Alpha Khakis, creating a visually disruptive spectacle which fueled cheers, snapping and sharing of photos and trial by other guys wanting to get in to the action and the khakis. Those who participated received a free pair of Alpha Khakis on the spot and were entered in a sweepstakes to win an ultimate home entertainment package. Women got their male friends to participate and some even were tattooed and entered into the drawing.
The promotion fueled buzz as men tweeted, posted pictures and showed off their new khakis. Participants who tweeted “Dockers just made me an Alpha Fan at [bar name] #dockersalphafan,” earned a second entry into the sweepstakes. If a friend retweeted the message, they received a third entry.
Overall, the men had a lot of fun and embraced the brand while doing it. Nearly 750 guys dropped their pants and stepped into Dockers Alpha Khakis. Nationwide, the promotion scored roughly 3,200 on-site impressions. Millennial men who never before sought the brand out at retail or responded to traditional advertising were thrilled to try on the Alpha Khaki in an experience built to reward collective camaraderie.
In the Twittersphere, the single-day event saw a 68% increase in tweets to #dockersalphafan. Providing content to both the brand and consumers, #dockersalphafan reached 9,700 unique Twitter users on activation day, totaling 11,700 impressions. Over the five days surrounding the event date, 42,500 unique users were reached, achieving more than 53,100 impressions.
