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Levi Strauss & Co. president and chief executive officer John Anderson is on a campaign to maximize the power of the iconic Levi’s label around the world and has beefed up the firm’s executive ranks in a bid to position the company as a true global powerhouse.

Anderson took the reins of the San Francisco-based denim giant in November 2006, but his first major initiative and the influence of his extensive background working in international markets didn’t show until last year. It was during the second half of 2008 that the company unveiled a global campaign devoted entirely to the iconic 501 style. The “Live Unbuttoned” campaign was the brand’s first worldwide advertising initiative and coincided with a retooling of the 501 button-fly jeans style.

During a February conference call to discuss year-end results, Anderson credited concentrating the company’s marketing might behind the 501 with spurring sales around the world and, more importantly, helping to reclaim market share in its largest and most mature markets. Levi’s as a group spent $297.9 million worldwide on advertising in the year ended Nov. 30, according to its annual report. The core Levi’s brand accounted for about 76 percent of sales in 2008, or roughly $3.27 billion, an increase from the 73 percent of sales for which the brand accounted in 2007 and the 70 percentof sales in 2006.

The campaign proved an eye-opener for Anderson.
“That really showed us that when we put all our energy behind a single message and drove it globally that we would be very pleased with the results,” said Anderson. “It also reinforced us being a global brand.”

However, the campaign exposed organizational issues that may have prevented the company from getting the maximum leverage out of the Levi’s brand in the past.

“We weren’t set up to drive a global campaign,” Anderson said. “Coordinating that to make sure we had a common point of view was quite complicated.”

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