Stuart Elliott of the New York Times is reporting that Levi’s has signed an agreement with Logo for a campaign called Logo Unbuttoned. The campaign will be built around a new late-night block of uncensored programming called "Saturday Nights Unbuttoned Presented by Levi’s." The programming, which will run from 1-3am on Sunday mornings, will include uncensored versions of Logo programs such as "The Big Gay Sketch Show," "Queer as Folk" and "The L Word." It will be exclusively sponsored by Levi’s and will tie in to the company’s new "Live Unbuttoned" ad campaign.
There’s already been a fair amount of talk online about the commercialism of this move, the idea that Logo will only show uncensored programs in the middle of the night, etc. I’m more interested in the idea that old-fashioned sponsorship ("back to the 50s" as openly gay Logo president Brian Graden told Elliott) is alive and well on gay broadcast networks. Levi’s made headlines last year with their now award-winning broadcast advertising and this new partnership appears to be another step in their efforts to fully engage with our community.
We’ll have to see what the programming is like and how the Levi’s advertising is integrated into it (or not), but on the surface, I think this sounds really interesting. The campaign will include videos (click here to see a few of them on the New York Times Web site) and other online tools to both extend the branding and highlight the LGBT people Levi’s is positioning as living "unbuttoned."
We’ve written a fair amount about fashion and marketing and the good, and bad, attempts by marketers to leverage their interest in our community into increased sales. In some of the more cynical examples, I think the effort has fallen flat because marketers tried only to be "hip" by talking about gay and lesbian issues and themes without really demonstrating any real affinity or understanding of the realities of our lives.
It seems to me that the challenge for Levi’s with this latest effort is to be genuine. One of Levi’s strengths has always been their heritage as the company that invented the jean. They’ve been surpassed over the years by Calvin Klein and then Jordache and then Gap and then all of the new wave of designer jeans that people will pay hundreds of dollars to own. But through it all, Levi’s has always been the original. If Levi’s can stay true to its heritage while also honestly and openly highlighting the truth of our lives through the lens of their jeans, I think they’ll be successful in this campaign.
What do you think? Take a look at the campaign info highlighted above and share your comments with us below.
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Great post… and it’s a special one since I know and work with Ben…
Today is Ben’s birthday!
Happy B-Day, Ben!