Levi Strauss has yet to decide how to respond, if at all, to a recently launched tv ad by Mark’s Work Wearhouse.
On April 7, Calgary-based Mark’s began running a 30-sec. tv spot on The Sports Network that compares its private label brand of cotton casual pants, Denver Hayes, with the Levi Strauss brand, Dockers.
The spot, created for Mark’s by Watermark Advertising & Design of Calgary, shows two men wearing what appear to be identical white cotton pants.
During a blindfold test, a woman compares the cotton fabric of the pants and chooses the Denver Hayes brand based on its superior texture. At the end of the spot, the announcer compares the price of Denver Hayes, at $39.95 a pair, to Dockers, at $49.95 a pair.
Levi Strauss President Gordon Shank says he has not seen the ad, but he understands from people who have that it ‘is not in poor taste.’
That being the case, he says he has not decided if a response of any sort is merited. ‘I haven’t got on the phone to my lawyer, if that’s what you mean.’
Shank says from one point of view he sees the ad as complimentary and a testament to the strength of the Dockers brand.
‘Philosophically, I think it is somewhat of an honor to be the one that they are comparing themselves to.’
But at the same time, Shank points out that, as a brand name manufacturer, he is uncomfortable with the idea that one of his leading retailers is using Dockers to promote a private label product.
(Mark’s does not carry Dockers. But it is one of the top-volume retailers of Levi’s Red Tab line of cotton jeans.)
At its worst, the comparison ad could turn out to be a harbinger of increasingly competitive times in the apparel business.
The highly aggressive marketing of private label brands by retailers that has become commonplace in the grocery industry and elsewhere has yet to surface in the apparel trade.
While it is not uncommon for Loblaw or Canadian Tire, for example, to compare their private label brands to specific national brands in tv and print ads, Shank says the Mark’s tv spot is the first time he can recall an apparel retailer running such a blunt comparison ad against a Levi Strauss product.
Shank says he isn’t worried the marketing practices of the grocery trade will make their way into the apparel business, but admits ‘the world’s changing so fast it could be upon us right away.’
‘If there were three or four or five retailers doing the same thing out there, I’d have to be concerned about our brand equity,’ he says.
Levis Strauss launched Dockers in Canada five years ago. (For the first two year, it was sold under the name Dock Masters because of a trademark dispute.)
Backed by the marketing muscle of Levi Strauss, Dockers have been credited with revitalizing the cotton casual pants segment in the u.s. and, to a lesser extend, in Canada.
An employee with Mark’s, which operates a chain of retail outlets across the country, says the comparison ad is scheduled to run for an eight-week flight.
Phone calls to Mark’s Work Wearhouse President Michel St. Jean were not returned.
