With sales of its jeans picking up, VF Corp is repositioning both Lee and Wrangler jeans with new fall marketing campaigns. This is seen as a kind of drumming up some new advertisements for its denim brands. While still hanging on to old ads that feature heroes of a certain era including football players like Brett Favre, country legend George Strait and Nascar’s Dale Earnhardt, Jr., as well as its lineup of rodeo stars, Wrangler is making a play for a younger audience. Now, the NC-based company is switching to what it calls ‘a more emotionally based lifestyle marketing this fall’.
Instead of stressing the brand’s hard-working denim heritage, the brand’s new national TV ads are seen underscoring the famous W at play including camping, motorcycling and pool tables. Set to Howling Tongues’ fresh take on Credence Clearwater Revival’s Up Around The Bend, spots inform viewers to Be true. Be bold. Be yourself, Be comfortable in your own jeans. VF’s Lee brand is also getting into some new moves with a #MoveYourLee campaign from GSD&M. The new campaign goes for laughs, spoofing the superpowers of the Lee Man and the Lee Woman. A social-media focus encourages fans to upload their best 10-second dance videos tagged #MoveYourLee on Instagram for a chance to win prizes. The Lee effort stars the flexibility of jeans infused with spandex and other stretchy fibers, which VF hopes can give denim a leg up in the battle against yoga pants.
It has been recently reported that denim sales are up after a long slump sparked by the athleisure trends with sales climbing 2 per cent to nearly $13 billion in the 12-month period ending in June. And women, who buy about 60 per cent of all jeans, bought 304 million pairs. In its most recent quarterly results, VF’s sales of jeans wear rose 3 per cent to $629 million with Wrangler notching a 2 per cent gain and sales of Lee rising 8 per cent.
