Business Week looks at Levi’s new video-driven web campaign.
For decades, the medium has helped define the advertising message. Now marketers such as Levi Strauss are experimenting with the fledgling tableau of the Internet and coming up with new kinds of advertising. They’re discovering that developing video campaigns for the Web is an entirely different craft.
The privately held jeans company just completed a series of six video-based ads that were shot exclusively for the Web. “In the past, we have repurposed video from TV and used it on the Web. But that is not the most compelling use of the Web for consumers,” says Patrice Varni, director of Internet marketing for Levi Strauss.
TV ads are often filled with action and make use of fast-paced editing techniques. Onlne ads must walk a fine line, according to Sharon Greenwood, creative director at Avenue A/Razorfish, the interactive agency that developed the campaign for Levi’s. They must be engaging and compelling, yet they must respect the fact that Internet users aren’t visiting sites to look at ads.
The new Levi’s ads, with their white backgrounds, exude calm. There’s no audio, and just one or two characters in each ad.
I’m glad to hear that audio is out. There is nothing worse then visiting a site with your speakers turned up, then suddenly getting scared out of your chair by someone screaming in a commercial.