Their brand had fallen flat and their product had become synonymous with boring cubicle-wear. Even worse, their target, adult males, were losing their jobs. Fewer and fewer were going to college. And their testosterone levels were falling at a rate of 1% per year—something which has been happening for the past 20 years.
So the “Wear the Pants” campaign became a call to manhood. We urged men to get off the sofa and once again become the problem-solving, adventure-seeking, bold gentlemen they truly are.
Did it work? Brand awareness went up, and sales rose over 200%.
These guys had a lot to say.
We launched the campaign with these award-winning designs that created a buzz throughout the world. It created a dialogue that extended beyond the advertising world.
Like Tibor Kalman said, "When you make something no one hates, no one loves it.”
I'd like to think that I was one of the first to pitch and create what we now know to be "branded content" (e.g. real stories of real people). Yeah I said it! Up until this point (2009) we mostly saw ads from brands that had very little substance. There were no real stories from real people, unless you wanted to donate to some NGO's cause.
To launch Phase 2 of the Wear the Pants campaign, I pitched the idea to shoot real guys who do real shit; they would "embody" the values of the brand. The client was skeptical, but figured since it was only going to live on the Internets (social media), they let me go crazy. It was supposed to be digital only....
...then the CMO of Levis saw the footage. He asked we make a cut for the Super Bowl.
Boom. A creatives wet dream. We called it, "The Big Sleep."
And yes, that's Barry Jenkins, the director of Moonlight. He definitely got shit done.
For Phase 2 of the WTP campaign, we wanted to take the momentum from the launch and take it a step further by offering men the resources they need to make their plans happen. This involved a massive social media engagement, including two contests running simultaneously on Facebook, with TV, print, and online efforts leading consumers to the Dockers Facebook page.
This isn’t your 2-buck Chuck.
Andrew and his brother Adam are the owners of Scribe Winery. Check out their story, and see how beautiful wine can be.
Grab a bottle and grow some greatness.
A wood surfboard? Really.
They're hard to describe. They look like they belong in the MOMA. You know, next to those mid-century modern pieces we all love but can't afford.
That's what Danny Hess does. He was 1 of 6 guys we partnered with to launch the 2nd phase of the Wear the Pants campaign.
You've got plans, right? Something you've always wanted to do, but couldn't because of [type excuses here]. We wanted to motivate people to pursue their dreams, and what better than some cold hard ca$h.
As part of the WTP campaign, we ran a contest on Facebook, the winners were chosen by the community; no corporate hands were involved. We let the community vote to see which plan they felt was most worthy of getting funded. There were over 5,000 submissions, not bad for one of the first contests to be run on Facebook.
You can think of this as the original Kickstarter model. Where my royalties at!?
Have a smaller plan? Get some cash.
Not everyone wants to build a boat and sail across the world. Maybe just start their own home-brewing business. We didn't want to alienate anyone, so running in parallel to the larger $100K contest, we were also rewarding people with their mini plans.
Now get back to crafting your bespoke small-batch coffeemug koozie.