Levi’s Originals Stand the Test of Time 1991

In 1991 Levi’s had a new campaign, Levi’s , Stand the Test of Time, which appeared in print and on television; it featured an undiscovered Brad Pitt as the main character. Pitt, discharged from prison, picks up his few belongings – a camera and a pair of Levi’s – which have stood the test of time by being as cool today as the day he last wore them, before his prison term. His girlfriend is waiting for him and the prison gates close, as Pitt photographs the prison officer. The advertisement defines Levi’s positioning in the market; anti-establishment, cool and classic. The advertisement made Pitt’s face famous; his Hollywood career took off and he went on to play a similar cowboy character in the film Thelma and Louise (1991). Levi’s was in trouble. Sales of its denim had dropped by 13 per cent, and only recently the company had to lay-off 30% of its US workforce. In an effort to head off trendy competition from the likes of Diesel and Evisu, in July 1997 the company switched its advertising strategy from glamorous Nick Kamen-style pants-off films. Amanda Le Roux - Levi's then marketing director - said at the time that the company was making its advertising more surreal to claw back the hip and the underground (Armstrong, 1999). How did the changes in market affect advertising and hence the image of denim, did they make it more subtle, more diverse, more stereotyped, weirder. In 1999 Bartle Bogle and Hegarty launched a three-dimensional jean that had a stay- pressed, pristine look.