America woke up the other day with a brand new edition (or remake) of last years campaign ‘Go Forth’. This coast to coast campaign aims to tag along recession times to make itself more relevant to its targets. Probably the intention was to reinforce what made the brand famous in the first place, and leveraging its heritage as a symbol of the hard-working America.

Shifting Targets?

Compared to the traditional Levi’s ads, and even compared to last year’s ad aiming at a rebelling generation, apparently this year the ads seem to portray a different target: the new ready-to-work generation. Does it mean Levi’s has shifted targets? Compared to last year.. probably yes, compared to their old times, not really. What this campaigned places in evidence is that used to be the hard-working America has been redefined. What seems to be a confusing, almost political message, can be the rebirth of a brand that used to aim at the center of the working class and whatever comes along (strategic vs. commercial targets).

From a segmentation perspective, demographics change little, purchasing power too in relative terms (with some argument, of course, given the economic roller coaster and financial mess this target had to go through). So what is clever is the recognition of the new definition of work, the consumers needs and a relevant way to communicate with consumers, via an insight that could well be something like: “good things come from hard work“.