Levi's - Creating popular collections based on Customer Feedback & Co-creation

Hello Customer, a Podcast About Delivering Extraordinary Customer Experience

When a company is as established as Levi’s (founded in the late 1800s), they have to continue to please generations-loyal customers and solve new problems for younger jean-wearers. With each initiative of marketing and product development, Levi’s ensures customer satisfaction by hitting the ground, listening, and learning from the consumers in their markets.

Skateboarding? They created an ultra-durable pant that doesn’t look flashy, based on feedback from skateboarders and skateshop owners around the globe. Stretchy-but-not-saggy fabrics, double layer pockets, and specially sewn belt loops are just a few of the features that set the pants apart. To send the message of their commitment to skating, the company helped build new skateparks and continues to give hands-on support to communities all over the world.
Commuters? When Levi’s team members realized how inconvenient it was to have to change into and out of different clothes when they commuted by bike to work, they developed the Commuter Line, with extra durability and stretch -- again, still looking like the standard Levi’s jean -- to accommodate this energy-efficient mode of transportation.
Sending the message of practicality, community support, and high-quality, Levi’s also launched pop-up workspaces for a month at a time in various cities. Offering free tailoring, bike tune-ups, wifi, coffee, and workspace in each city developed quick rapport with consumers -- once they were able to stop asking, “Wait, it’s free?”
Ultimately, each product and marketing concept begins not with a design or a bottom line, but by understanding the person who will be wearing that pair of jeans.

Key Takeaways

• Finding people passionate about the same causes as the brand and
  supporting them. Levi’s helps build skateparks around the world and
  hosts events but doesn’t slap their logo on every piece of
  construction.
• When a company’s been around since the 1800s, the product will mean
  different things to different people. From miners to rappers to
  skateboarders, durability and quality speaks across boundaries of
  interest.
• Dig into the roots before launching a new product: Levi’s traveled
  around the world talking to skateboarders and skateshop owners
  learning their pain points.
• They’ve developed the umbrella social hashtag #supportskateboarding
  so that their work in different parts of the world can still be
  linked together.
• Commuter Line was born from the Levi’s team who rode bikes to work
  but couldn’t find a comfortable, durable pant. They added in stretch
  and reinforcements while maintaining the regular “jean” look.
• Pop-up bike events with temporary workspaces, free wifi and coffee,
  bike tune-ups, and tailoring provide value for Levi’s customers (and
  potential customers) in large cities around the world.