You can tell Transworld is committed to skateboarding because they allow ads like this to be on their website. Congrats guys, you’re aiding and abetting major corporate interests that care nothing about skateboarding as they try to put real skateboard clothing companies out of business.
I see there is also a Panasonic ad on the Transworld homepage. Don’t make me go off about how this is just helping Panasonic put all the real skateboard electronics companies out of business.
But if we’re lucky, this Levis ad will completely fail for a number of reasons, the primary one being it’s obvious they didn’t hire somebody with any knowledge of skateboarding to design the ad and for that reason it will probably fail to hook anyone but the most ignorant of skateboarders. How can you tell?
Frame 1. “What do you freestyle?” Does anyone know what they’re talking about? Everyone who knows anything about freestyle skateboarding knows it peaked around ‘84. Man, I’m even an old guy myself and freestyle was dying when I started skating in 19 aught 86. The word freestyle hasn’t been used much in skateboarding for almost two decades, and even back then it was the minor part of skateboarding. Even if you wanted to market to skateboarders in ‘84 you wouldn’t use the word “freestyle” because you’d alienate 95% of skateboarders who didn’t do freestyle skateboarding. Today it’s more like 99.999999%, except for Mullen and the King of Freestyle. Will somebody check on Rodney and see if this ad has had any effect on him? I’m worried about sales of Almost jeans if Rodney succumbs to this ad campaign that is targeted almost solely at him. How can one man resist all the ad dollars behind this onslaught?
Frame 2. “Show us your signature move” This just makes me think they’re targeting Rodney again, because nobody else really has signature moves. Think about it, how many tricks are there that if someone did them, you would instantly think “That’s a Mullen trick”? There are probably about 100. Can anybody else claim tricks like that? Tony Hawk probably has 5, if that. Daewon has a couple maybe. I don’t think Levis is talking to everybody here, I think they’re specifically talking to Rodney. They might as well have had the banner say “Rodney, show us your signature move”. Don’t give in Rodney! I know the pressure is great, and it must be flattering to know you’re the sole target of this ad campaign, but you’ve got to stick with it. Don’t give in to non-skateboarding corporate interests.
Frame 3. Win a trip to Aspen, CO to see the pros. What pros are they talking about? Why are they going to be in Aspen? Is this ad marketing towards snowboarders or skateboarders? If it’s for skateboarders wouldn’t they say something about California instead of Aspen? Oh, I forgot, this is just for Rodney. Maybe he likes Aspen? I wasn’t aware of that, but who knows, I don’t know him as well as Levis does, apparently.
Frame 4. Ha, dorky guy. I wish I could have been there during this photo shoot. I bet this is how it went down.
“Marsha, this is Beth in design, I’m working on a new banner ad for a campaign, and I need a photo of a skateboarder, do you know where I can get one?”
“Hi Beth, I think Chad in the mailroom used to skate or something. I heard him talking about it the other day, and he kind of dresses like a skater, or a snowboarder or something. You know, he’s always wearing that beanie.”
“Hi Chad, this is Beth in design, I’ve got an ad I’m doing and I need a photo of a skateboarder, Marsha told me you used to skate, is that right?”
“Yeah, sort of. My brother was better than I was, but I skated for a summer, yeah.”
“Well, do you think you could just stand on a board and maybe do some sort of trick or something so we can get a photo? It doesn’t need to be anything fancy.”
“Yeah, sure.”
At this point, Chad thinks he’s going to get a date with Beth, especially after she sees his skills.
Later that day…
“Hey Chad, we went down to the local skateshop and got this board. Man, I had no idea they were so expensive. I told the guy what I was doing, and he said for a photo shoot for Levis I needed a special board. He said this one was what we needed, but man, $450 seems like a lot for a skateboard, and this one looks like it’s been used before.”
“Ummmm…” Chad doesn’t want to point out that Beth is an idiot, or she probably won’t go out with him.
“Ok, I’ve got the camera ready, just do something.”
“Umm, you know, it’s been a while…I should probably do this on the carpet or something instead of this cement floor.”
“Are you sure, can’t you just do something easy?”
“Well, I’m pretty rusty.”
“Ok, let’s go find a carpeted space.”
After being kicked out of a few cubicle spaces for making too much noise jumping around and breaking one of the tiles for a raised floor, they finally find a carpeted break room.
“Ok, go ahead Chad, let’s see your stuff.”
And there it is. Chad tries to do an ollie. His face shows how awkward it feels, his back foot dangles helplessly, and Chad makes his debut as a model for an online ad banner campaign.
“Hey Beth, I heard you took the photo with Chad, how’d it work out?”
“Oh, hi Marsha. You know, Chad doesn’t skate that well. We had to walk around for like an hour just to find a carpeted spot where he could do this lame little jump. This photo is horrible, but I’m behind deadline so I guess I’ll have to use it.”
“Did you know he kind of likes you? I heard him mention something to someone about you the other day.”
“Yeah, he asked me out, but I told him I had family coming into town and that I would be going out of town the next weekend. I don’t know, after seeing him jump on that skateboard like that I just can’t respect him at all. Plus that beanie is so dorky.”
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Nice job Levis. If you had simply found a skater on the street and asked them how to fix this ad they would have told you not to use the word “freestyle”, to get a different photo, that skateboarders don’t care about Aspen, and that skateboarders don’t really have signature moves, and with a few simple changes you could have had an ad banner that could have at least a shot at attracting some skateboarding customers.
I don’t know why I’m complaining though, I’m just giving them clues as to how to market to skateboarders better. I should be happy they’re such idiots and won’t pick up any market share. Either way, shame on Transworld for running this stuff. If I were a skateboarding clothing company owner I’d be pulling my ads out of Transworld and putting them in in all the independent skate mags popping up.
I may have posted this before…but didn’t see it go through.
Just curious about what “real skateboard electronics companies” there are out there. I can’t think of any!
Yeah, it was kind of a joke…now it’s ruined.
After looking at the ad the first time, I thought it was for Target Stores. Maybe Target should sue them for using their logo 400 times in the ad. This is a transparent attempt to appeal to a specific target market where a large company comes along and tries to fit in. I like Levis and wear them, but do not think of Levis and skating together. Maybe I’m just old. To me it looks like Levi Strauss just wants to have a ’skateboarding’ ad with a ’skateboarder’ on it in ’skate’ clothes (that have their logo on them) doing ’skating’ ‘moves’. The ’signature’ thing where they try to incorporate ’signature move’ and their Levi Strauss ‘Signature’ clothing line doesn’t work for the people/culture they are trying to appeal to. And, kicking them while they’re down, the picture of the guy’s face is extremely disturbing.
thanx for posting my comments i can see you guys are real unbias
I don’t think they care about skateboarders. They are probably advertising to the parent that doesn’t listen to their skateboarding kid’s requests for dope stuff. Transworld should be ashamed of themselves running an ad like this. What’s next… pumgos?!? Man, this is gay.