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Levis popularised denim jeans as an item of urban wear clothing by modernising the design, adding metal studs to the pockets and promoting the value of craftsmanship. Today, Levis are the quintessential item in millions of wardrobes across the world.

However, since the launch of the first fashion designed jeans, the brand's dominant position in the market has been eroded as it faces competition from the top fashion labels.

To counter this attack, Levis is reverting to its original promotional strategy by focusing on the value of craftsmanship. To position the brand in a language appropriate to the lifestyle of 21st century consumers, Levis is associating itself with the level of craftsmanship required of top performers in the arts and using them as ambassadors for the brand. The media mix: Print, outdoor and digital. Website users can follow the craftsmen and women as they perform their craft.

Levis is backing the brand advertising by opening flagship stores in the fashion hubs of major cities, like London, Paris, Tokyo and New York.

Research on the web

South African agencies and marketers should take cognisance of the fact that internet penetration in this country is, for now, primarily a pursuit of the upper socio-economic population. Therefore, internet research is not representative of the behaviour of the average consumer in this country for many brands. The medium should therefore only be used to research brands and products that are part of the lifestyle of this population.

The ease of fielding multiple online research studies appeals because the cost is low, and quickly provides snapshot insights into current behaviour. However, there is the danger of falling prey to panel bias. Online research tends to attract the well educated and wealthy who have more leisure time. There is a tendency for researchers to skip the vital quantitative instruments that help ensure that the survey data will be meaningful. Omitting this step makes it impossible that the data is clean.

Dipstick vs longitudinal tracking

Dipstick research is obviously designed to reveal a snapshot. But what it doesn't do is tell marketing managers what to do six months down the line. This data, therefore, does little to help marketers predict change. It can often become a distraction, rather than offer valuable input that will change the direction of a strategic plan.

To improve the process, the answer is not to get better at interpreting incorrect studies, but to do fewer, better studies and get them right.

Research should concern itself with answering big questions like the unknowns that matter to the overall success of a plan, like why and how much do consumers buy; from whom; where competitors are specifically vulnerable; and what short-term moves will yield the highest return.

Gathering additional data 

Marketers should spend more time harvesting free data. They should mine what customers are saying about the company and its products through existing channels such as call centres, websites, YouTube, Twitter, FaceBook, blogs etc. Customer- service experience is a key driver of positive and negative brand impressions. Therefore it pays to take a valid sample of customer calls and examine who is calling and why.

Invest in an ongoing full-market panel. A market panel is a sweeping, detailed and continuous survey of a large and carefully selected group of buyers who reflect a strategic reliable sample of a much larger market.

This is the antidote to fragmentation and provides a wide-angle view of a market's total buying population and provides a series of individual portraits, every six to 12 months.

There is evidence that there is a steady decline of brand loyalty globally, in many market segments. In addition, there are signs of the emergence of new and complex shopping behaviours which are being driven by the web. Therefore, tracking buying behaviour over time is critical - especially in terms of improving the value of advertising. The change taking place is going to force advertising to adapt its model.