8217;s Strauss took the opportunity to produce enough jeans to satisfy the young target. By the early 80s, the baby boomers were getting old and also their taste in jeans was decreasing (they were buying less jeans and wore the old ones for a longer period); While the target segment of 18 through 25 years old was shrinking. Thus, the company found itself wrestling for the declining in the jeans market.Despite of the fading market, Levi’s Strauss & Co. staid on its basic jeans business. They also sought growth by increasing its advertising and through national retailers in the United States of America, like Sears and JC Penny, but this tactics didn’t succeed. What Levi’s Strauss did, was a diversification into the faster-growing fashion and specialty apparel business. Levi’s Strauss & Co. brought up with 75 new lines, including high fashion, sportswear, and athletic wear. In 1984 Levi Strauss had succeeded its diversification, from its blue jeans to skiwear, running suits, men’s hats, and even women’s polyester pants and denim maternity suits. The results were very chaotic: The profit fell suddenly by 79 percent in just one year.In 1985, in an effort to change the weakness of Levi Strauss & Co., new management was implemented with a bold new strategic plan. It sold most of the bad-caused fashion and specialty clothing businesses and took the company back to what it had always been “making and selling jeans”. Starting, Levi rejuvenated its flagship product, the basic button-fly, shrink-to-fit 501 jeans, investing $38 million in the now-classic “501 blues” advertising campaign, a series of hip, documentary-style “reality ads.” In the business history, any company has never spent so much on a single item of clothing and many analysts questioned this strategy. However, the 501 blues campaign spoke for the company’s entire product. It reminded consumers ...
