D2C Opps: Levi Strauss taps global marketing VP amid spend increases (Score 65)

Sales Lead: In June 2023, Levi Strauss appointed Curtis Hanlon as its global marketing VP.

• Hanlon joined the company in January 2013 and was most recently its senior global director.
• Now, he leads the development and execution of Levi's global brand marketing strategy, delivering plans, programs, and brand assets spanning all consumer touch points.
• The company will likely:
  • Bolster D2C awareness initiatives
  • Continue shifting its strategy, particularly its digital spend
  • Keep increasing spend
  • Seek new agency partners following a recent DM shift
• Target demographic: 
  • Gen-Z and millennials with a skew toward male sports fans

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: The Levi's brand, AKA the brand for which parent company Levi advertises via national TV, has spent approximately $8.8m on commercials YTD, more than double the approximately $3.4m spent in all of 2022.
  • Last year: The brand spent around $3.4m on this channel in 2022 after having spent almost triple this, around $10.1m, in 2021.
  • 2023 ad programming: Levi's 2023 commercials have targeted male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, Inside the NBA, The 65th Annual Grammy Awards, the NBA Countdown, and the NBA Tip-Off.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, parent company Levi has allocated roughly $13.9m toward digital ads, less than half of the roughly $28m allocated within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • YTD data: The company has earned about 1.4b digital impressions YTD via Instagram (46%), desktop video (25%), YouTube (13%), desktop display (9%), Facebook (5%), and mobile display (2%) ads.
  • Last year: In 2022, Levi reached an estimated full-year digital spend of $14m, 26% less than that of $18.8m in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The company utilizes Google Ads along with OOH, digital, local broadcast, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and online video (via Youtube.com, Youtube IOS, and Youtube Android) ads.
  • Levi sponsors podcasts such as Stuff You Missed in History Class, The Bill Simmons Podcast, Everything Everywhere Daily, Fantasy Footballers, and The Documentary Podcast.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: If you haven't yet done so, reach out soon to get on the radar of Jason Gowans, Levi's SVP and CDO since February 2023.
  • ​​​​​​​You may especially benefit from offering brand-specific support for the Levi's brand, which recently tapped CMO Kenneth Mitchell.
• Current agency roster:
  • Droga5​​​​​​​: Creative AOR
  • Universal McCann: Media AOR
  • Deloitte Digital's Heat: Media AOR
  • Kenna: Digital agency partner
  • Matterkind: Programmatic agency partner

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; podcast insights by Podchaser.