Tacit Brand Messages

A few days ago, I bought my self a nice thick blue shirt. The material was a kind of suede-like microfiber. And it was made by Levi's. Being the typical male shopper, I did not look at the care label, but when I arrived home my wife did. That is how I learned that my nice thick blue shirt was "Dry Clean Only."

How could that be? Levi's is the brand of rugged cotton jeans, of easy to wear, easy to clean, no fuss casual clothes. My perception of that brand evokes panning for nuggets during the gold rush, riding on the range in a western saddle, roughing it in South America. Though friendly, my neighborhood dry cleaner doesn't fit in the picture.

Why is my perception of the Levi's brand so out of touch with how the company views itself? After all, I have never seen any Levi's communication stating that all their clothes are machine washable. Yet, to me, a dry-clean-only Levi's garment is as incongruous as a Godiva bubble gum, a Harley Davidson moped or gourmet Velveeta.

There are several possibilities.

One is that my perception of the Levi's brand is erroneous. To most of us Levi's has its roots in San Francisco where, during the gold rush, someone, probably named Levi, had the brilliant idea to put rivets into the most stressed parts of the seams of his work clothes. That made them more durable. Levi's work clothes, their "Jeans", became known for their ruggedness and the company's success has outlasted the gold rush.

But that's history: The days of jeans as work clothes are over. They have entered the star (and rhinestone)-studded world of fashion. And fashion doesn't fear the dry cleaner.

Still, the Levi's kind of fashion is different. It is casual and relaxed fashion. And it is or should be machine washable.

Another possibility is that the Levi's brand managers want to "expand the brand." Some companies, particularly those that do not have a good idea of what their brand stands for, may expand the brand into areas where it doesn't belong, which dilutes it in the process.

Some smartly resist this misstep. I recall Green Giant brand managers agonizing over whether to include meat in their line of frozen stir-fry veggies. Their competitors had meat and, purely from a marketing standpoint, it made sense that Green Giant should have meat, too. But, from a brand standpoint, the Green Giant has supreme expertise in the world of vegetables, not that of meat. Anything that the Green Giant sells should have vegetables as heroes. The Green Giant product remained meatless.

Resisting brand expansion for the sake of preserving the brand is very difficult to do. In our world of immediate gratification, it is difficult to justify passing up an opportunity to make a quick buck in order to preserve the long-term consistency of how the brand is portrayed.

But that should not be an issue for Levi Strauss: The company is still privately owned and managed by the family that created it. Its President, Mr. Haas, a family member, still directs the company. He has proven his brand strategy savvy by creating new brands for apparel that would not fit well under the Levi's umbrella. For instance, Dockers, one of Levi Strauss' brands, are also in the world of casual fashion but not in that of jeans. (And they are machine washable.) In addition, a quick visit to the Levi's website should easily convince you that the company is acutely aware of its history and of what its brands stand for.

Thus, my shirt's dry cleaning requirement probably means that there isn't a written brand strategy for everyone to look at. Or, if there is a strategy, it is not comprehensive enough to provide sufficient guidance in day-to-day business decisions. Or, someone has violated the strategy, and this has slipped by the brand stewards. If there is a lesson in this story, it may be that writing down all the "values" that are the character of the brand is essential. One of branding's aspects is that it is very difficult or impossible to proactively communicate brand values to your customers. Saying "Trust me" doesn't make you any more trustworthy. Thus, to outsiders, brand values are more often implied than spelled out. Yet, within the company that owns the brand, it is essential to have a document for all to see that spells out all the elements that make up the brand's personality.

Once you have such a document-we call it a brand character statement-make sure it is consulted before taking actions that may influence the brand...exactly as I should always consult the care labels of my shirts before I buy them.