Levi’s Tackles the Quarantine 15

How do you build buzz around a solid quarter of earnings?

You give it a news hook.

Levi Strauss is bouncing back from early pandemic challenges in a big way. It was eager for the news to make a bigger splash with investors and the public.

On its quarterly earnings call, Levi’s CEO Charles Bergh crafted a narrative around how fashion and clothing choices are changing as a result of COVID-19. He anchored his story with one headline-grabbing stat:

About 35% of consumers in the U.S. have changed waist sizes.

That stat was enough to garner a lot of coverage, including Fortune, Reuters and Quartz – plus a Q&A with Bergh and the AP. The articles tackle shifting fashion trends driven by COVID-19 with Levi’s as a leading authority with the data to back it up.

It’s little coincidence the awareness push comes as the brand looks to expand its direct-to-consumer sales efforts.

Data-Driven Storytelling

The COVID-19 trouser tale from Levi’s is a good reminder that a stat and a story are a great way to drum up media interest for all kinds of company news and marketing initiatives.

Levi’s had good stats to share about their positive trajectory during a tough economic time. Compelling stats for Levi’s, to be sure, but less engaging for reporters and readers. So it dug into sales data to find some information that highlighted a larger trend in society that was worth covering.

Countless other clothing retailers had access to similar data and could have shared it – but they didn’t.

For something as all-encompassing as COVID-19, it’s likely every organization has some data that can shine a light on how we’re working, shopping, communicating or living differently. The challenge is finding that data point and packaging it in the most compelling way.