Striking New Levi's Ads Attempt To Revive Flagging Brand

Levi Johnston isn't the only Levi brand in the news. Long before the Alaskan bad boy started sucking the air out of the brand's value, Levi's was an iconic American brand of clothing.

It still is. Or it is trying to be again. After a decade or more of getting its lunch eaten by an explosion of bleeding-edge hip brands, from high-end Diesel to low-end H&M, Levi's is trying to scrape back. The brand's "Go Forth" campaign is flooding the scene, tying into everything from social media to a $100,000 scavenger hunt. But the foundation of the branding effort is a fraternity of moody television ads that are absolutely striking.

Set to the Walt Whitman poem "Pioneers! Oh Pioneers," and employing gorgeous cinematography, one ad plays more like a hipster's film project than a standard commercial. Another ad, "Go Forth, America" is nearly as moving. These ads seem to be a branding success so far, evidenced by the online buzz such as the blogger who wrote, "I'm a bit ashamed to say that I was so deeply moved by a commercial–a commercial for Levi's jeans."

And Levi's desperately needs this campaign to be a success. Incremental sales growth in Asia has not offset the fall in the US and Europe. The San Francisco-based denim-maker just posted third quarter income that was down to $41 million, a drop off of $28 million from a year ago.

The brand's image has strengths and weaknesses: its top BrandTags attributes include "durable," "American," "classic," "cool," "cowboy" and "rugged" -- but also "old" and "expensive."