On September 24th, at the 56th-annual OBIE Awards at Bridgewaters, New York, the Outdoor Adv. Assn. of America (OAAA) recognized one of the oldest users of outdoor advertising: Levi Strauss & Co. The OAAA inducted Levi’s into its prestigious Hall of Fame, where the brand joins other longtime out-of-home devotees, including Burma Shave, Coca-Cola, Nissan, Volkswagen, Nike and the U.S. Army with its Uncle Sam campaign. Hall of Fame honors are given to a brand in recognition of its long-standing excellence in outdoor advertising.
"Levi’s has covered everything from barns to billboards to behinds, and has been consistently original and creative in its outdoor executions," says Diane Cimine, OAAA executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "Therefore, the brand was a natural fit for this award."
The jeans company has been using outdoor to advertise its "wears" for more than 125 years. And lately, Levi’s has enjoyed renewed publicity with clever campaigns for its Silver Tab and Hard Jeans ("So Stiff, You’ll Have to Learn to Walk All over Again"). Using illustrative art rather than photographs, and sometimes using only words ("Tommy Wore Them"), the brand has been attracting as much attention on Madison Avenue as it has on Main Street.
Here, we show a few examples of Levi’s award-winning work through the years.