Levi Strauss & Co. is one of the largest company in the business world, having headquarters in all of the continents and selling their most significant product, clothing. Their most popular items are the Levi’s jeans and the Dockers khaki pants. Levi’s Strauss & Co. has been a very successful company producing, studying people wants and needs, selling, distributing, and promoting their product. The purpose of this report is to analyze the different marketing mix, or even, probably the same marketing mix that Levi Strauss is applying to both products.
Giving you an idea of how, why and the consequence of the marketing mix that Levi Strauss & Co. has applied and still is applying with some minor changes. Although the report’s frame contains a set of controllable and tactical marketing tools that Levi Strauss & Co. blends to produce the response required in the target market, it is a fact that they have been achieving their objectives by delivering value to its consumers. However, notice that these tools represent Levi’s point of view of the marketing mix available to persuade its buyers.
And from the customer’s point of view, each marketing tool is designed to deliver the corresponding benefits. In preparing this report, the conclusion has been drawn by facts and figures provided directly by Levi Strauss & Co. European Headquarters and by public resources. The layout of this report intends to analyze each marketing tool by discussing each point and relating them from one to another, noticing the difference and/or similarities of the two products.
Levi Strauss was invented in 1850 by a Bavarian who sold canvas pants to California gold seekers, and for a long time the blue jeans have been an institution in the American’s life, dominating the industry Levi’s Strauss & Co. During the 50s and 70s when the baby boom caused an explosion in the number of young people, the sales of jeans was easy. That’s when Levi’s Strauss took the opportunity to produce enough jeans to satisfy the young target.
By the early 80s, the baby boomers were getting old and also their taste in jeans was decreasing (they were buying less jeans and wore the old ones for a longer period); While the target segment of 18 through 25 years old was shrinking. Thus, the company found itself wrestling for the declining in the jeans market. Despite of the fading market, Levi’s Strauss & Co. staid on its basic jeans business. They also sought growth by increasing its advertising and through national retailers in the United States of America, like Sears and JC Penny, but this tactics didn’t succeed.
What Levi’s Strauss did, was a diversification into the faster-growing fashion and specialty apparel business. Levi’s Strauss & Co. brought up with 75 new lines, including high fashion, sportswear, and athletic wear. In 1984 Levi Strauss had succeeded its diversification, from its blue jeans to skiwear, running suits, men’s hats, and even women’s polyester pants and denim maternity suits.
The results were very chaotic: The profit fell suddenly by 79 percent in just one year. In 1985, in an effort to change the weakness of Levi Strauss & Co. ew management was implemented with a bold new strategic plan. It sold most of the bad-caused fashion and specialty clothing businesses and took the company back to what it had always been “making and selling jeans”. Starting, Levi rejuvenated its flagship product, the basic button-fly, shrink-to-fit 501 jeans, investing $38 million in the now-classic “501 blues” advertising campaign, a series of hip, documentary-style “reality ads. ” In the business history, any company has never spent so much on a single item of clothing and many analysts questioned this strategy.
However, the 501 blues campaign spoke for the company’s entire product. It reminded consumers of Levi Strauss’s strong tradition and refocused the company on its basic, blue jeans heritage. This campaign doubled the sales of 501s during the next four years. Building on this solid-blue base, Levi Strauss began to add successful products like pre-washed, stone washed and brightly color jeans to its basic line. Late 1986, Levi Strauss introduced Dockers, comfortable and casual cotton pants targeted towards the aging male baby boomers.
The concerning extension of the jeans business, the new line had even larger appeal than anticipated. Not only the senior citizens bought Dockers, so did their children. It seems that every American teen had to have a pair of casual cotton pants trendy enough to wear them when meeting his girlfriend’s parents. Levi’s Strauss seeing the success that Dockers has caused, continued to develop new products aging boomers, such as loose-fitting jeans for men who’ve outgrowth the company’s slimmer-cut 501s.
In addition to the introductions of new products, Levi Strauss & Co. so stepped up its efforts to develop new markets. Like in 1991, they developed a jeans advertising campaign especially for women and launched an innovative 3-years of $12 millions “Jeans for Women” advertising campaign featuring the new version of the female form in blue jeans by female artists. It also aired a national Spanish-language TV Advertising campaign aiming it to the young, fast-growing, and brand-loyal Hispanic market. Levi Strauss’s most tense turnaround has been in its international market. Levi Strauss has now become the only truly global US clothing maker.
Its strategy is to “Think Globally, Act Locally”. It operates a closely coordinated worldwide marketing, manufacturing and distributing system. Twice each year, Levi Strauss brings together managers from around the world to share products and advertising ideas and to search for those that have a global petition. Giving an example, the Dockers line was originated in Argentina, but has now become a worldwide bestseller. However, within its global strategy, Levi Strauss encourages local units to tailor products and programs to their home markets.
A good example is that in Brazil was developed the femenina line of the curve-cut jeans that provide the ultra-tight fit that Brazilian women favor. In most markets abroad, Levi Strauss & Co. , powerfully plays up its deep American roots. James Dean is a central figure in almost all Levi’s advertising in Japan; Indonesian ads shows teenagers all dressed with Levi’s clothing, driving around Dubuque, Iowa, in 1960s convertible; and almost all foreign ads features english language songs.
However, for as much as American usually think of their Levi’s as a basic wander around wear, most European and Asian consumers view them as upscale fashion statements. The prices match the snob appeal, in the United States of America a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans would have a price of around $35, and in the Netherlands could cost a pair of the same 501s $60 and in Paris could cost about $80. Levi Strauss’s innovative and enterprising global marketing efforts have produced remarkable results.
As the domestic market continues to decrease, foreign sales have accounted for most of the company’s total sales and 46 percent of its profit before corporate expenses and interests. Perhaps more impressive, its foreign business is growing five times the growth rate of its domestic business. Levi Strauss continues to look for new international market opportunities.
For starters, anything that can be offered to a market for attention, use, acquisition, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want; including service, place, person, organization, physical objects, and ideas; is the rounded definition of product Levi Strauss & Co. arted producing denim jeans as their core product, and while the years were passing by, their core product has changed by producing different types of garments.
Nowadays, Levi Strauss & Co. has three actual products and they are Levi’s, Dockers, and Slates. These products are classified as shopping products in the consumer product segment. In the Levi’s area of production, they don’t only produce underwaist-wear but also overwaist-wear, accessories, and many more different products for men and shortly for women. You can see in Levi’s range of jeans that it has different styles, colors and textures, for the different types of targets.