Levi’s Makes TV Spots Personal
Levi’s fans who want to star in the brand’s newest commercial can grab their moment of fame online.
Levi Strauss & Co.’s flagship brand Levi’s has put a “Your Levi’s Ad” option on its Web site that lets viewers plug their own headshot into its TV spot that shows a man tackling a jeans thief when he sees live news coverage of police chasing the thief into his own backyard. Levi’s hopes viewers will share their personalized ads by posting them on blogs and video-sharing sites, and e-mailing them to friends. Video-editing firm Personiva, San Francisco, handles.
The personalized TV spot is just one way that Levi’s is putting real faces in its advertising: Earlier this month, Levi’s kicked off an online contest and a four-campus tour to find 10 college students to star in ads breaking next spring (PROMO Xtra, Sept. 6, 2006).
The Haley Miranda Group, Culver City, CA, handles the contest for San Francisco-based Levi’s.
Meanwhile, Levi’s sister brand, Levi’s Signature, tapped its Web site LeviStraussSignature.com last month for tongue-in-cheek Webisodes supporting its sponsorship of NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson, who’s known for carting around a bobblehead of himself as a good-luck charm. (Team owner Rick Hendrick gave Johnson the bobblehead in 2002 when Johnson won his first big race.) Three stop-action animated episodes for Levi’s Signature show Johnson and Lil’ JJ on the road, on the track—and in the car’s cupholder. The series began Aug. 9, with the last episode breaking Sept. 12.
