Positioning Denizen a Levi Strauss & Co Brand

Positioning dENiZEN a Levi Strauss & Co brand

Executive summary:

Levi Strauss and Co.(LS&CO), is a trusted, internationally known company with a strong Levi’s brand image and deep history of producing high quality jeans. LS&CO offers a wide range of men’s, women’s and children jeans including cotton casual pants, dresses, tops etc. With a commanding market share of premium jeans in 110 countries, LS&CO has a great opportunity to grow their market by introducing their successful lower cost brand, dENiZEN, to the US market and therefore capitalize on a potential customer base of widely known retail store Target. With great quality and cost efficiency in mind, dENiZEN has the potential to dominate in median price range jeans apparel for years to come.

Problem Diagnosis

(1)For almost a century Levi’s was recognized as a global leader in denim and apparel with strong brand recognition. However, in the late 1990s Levi’s failed to recognize the booming premium jeans market, failed to forecast trends, and most importantly failed to be innovative, fresh and focused. Their target segment was stuck with the baby boomers generations, which eventually led to lost sales globally. This perception of ‘out of date’ brand resonated with the US consumer therefore the most significant problem facing the marketing team is positioning dENiZEN a sub brand of LS&CO, as an innovative apparel brand that can compete against established medium price ranged jeans competitors.

New rivals entered the denim market focusing on the right consumers allowing them to choose from designer denim to more affordable denim at retail stores.

(2 & 3)One way for LS&CO to turn around their decline in sales and global brand perception was by entering a new emerging Asian market, and introducing a new brand, dENiZEN. dENiZEN allowed LS&CO to expand their product availability and reach brand new target audiences in completely new market segments.

Although, LS&CO identified a number of segments the following segments really made a difference in launching this new, youthful brand.

1. Behavioral segment – LS&CO identified 3 potential market segment consumers; conventional consumer, sensible consumer, and progressive consumer. The right segment for LS&CO is the progressive consumer. A consumer that is looking for quality brand, modern look and great feel at affordable price. This consumer is optimistic, forward thinking, hardworking and social. All of these are attributes which dENiZEN’s strategy and new brand stands for.

2. Demographic segment – dENiZEN is an apparel company therefore anyone within this segment is a potential customer, men, women, kids. However, the key to success for dENiZEN is precisely