Nothing Is What It Seems

Consumers are calling brands’ bluff these days. No longer can there be a solely transactional relationship between brand and consumer, but a relationship built on true cultural exchange. Many companies are beginning to acknowledge the shift from just making good products to providing meaningful experiences. Of course, an important component in creating social change, is working with the communities you aim to serve in order to embolden the growing cultural fabric and not dictate it. This requires brands to experiment and offer their resources in ways they haven’t done before.

Lately, a brand I’ve noticed trying to make a positive social impact both environmentally and socially by leveraging the creative skills and needs of their consumers is Levi’s.

I noticed this first hand when frog ECD Paul Bradley was invited to the Levi’s Workshop space to sit on a panel of eco-innovators to judge Levi’s “Care to Air” Design Challenge the latest initiative from the company to engage with consumers on lowering their carbon footprint. The contest emerged after research on the lifecycle of a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans revealed that the biggest impact on the climate came from the energy intensive method consumers use to dry their jeans. So Levi’s, with the help of the crowd-sourcing agency Myoo Create launched the contest to find the most innovative, covetable, and sustainable ways for people to air dry their clothes. The idea would be to give the traditional clothesline a makeover, while getting some climate change street cred.  The panel of judges evaluated the six finalists on aesthetics, scalability, environmental sustainability, and ingenuity. The winning design, “Nothing Is What It Seems,” by Caleb Hill, cleverly uses a piece of art to masquerade a drying rack that unfolds from the wall.

Ironically, as I watched the presentations during the judging competition, taking place among large printing presses, I realized that the design solution served as a larger metaphor for the workshop space we sat in.

The Levi’s Workshop space is nestled in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. The Mission boasts a strong and active community that embraces local culture, art, and entrepreneurship, often resisting the entry of big brands. So, you can imagine the raised eyebrows when a storefront opened sporting the Levi’s signature red bat wing logo. But upon closer inspection, I realized this wasn’t a retail store at all: no mannequins sporting snug fit jeans or cash registers, just large printing presses, ink, and beautifully designed posters.  This pop-up print shop is part of Levi’s overall Go Forth campaign, which aims to pay tribute to the ideals of America’s working class roots. The print shop is first in the series of workshops created to engage with local communities by providing resources for neighborhood artists, as well as facilitating partnerships between artists and local non-profits.

The space is the brain-child of Adam Katz, a cultural consultant and curator who aims to generate new models for cultural patronage to support creative and activist communities. He often does this by partnering with brands to shape marketing campaigns that build engagement platforms involving art and culture. In a recent PSFK article, Katz expressed the shifting relationship between brand and consumer as the motivation behind his project:

I currently see an incredible opportunity for brands to become important players in a cultural sphere by embracing the role of “sincere patron.”  Consumers are savvy: hip to marketing machinations and bored by advertising.  The most inspiring thing a brand can do is to stop mining existing cultural attitudes and start driving creative production – to engage both pioneers and the public in a participatory fashion.  This is what Levi’s is doing with the Workshops. It is a natural extension of the brand’s longstanding investment in the art/music/design worlds, and an opportunity to expand on the company’s genuine commitment to positive social change and community support.

When I asked about Levi’s presence in the space, whether they censored any of the art or limited what the space was used for, one apron clad worker overseeing the print shop told me that the essence of the workshop was to enable others to create and experiment with their craft.  He pulled out a zine two artists had made in 48hrs, trying to test the limits of what they could do in the space, parodying and hacking up the Levi’s logo. But the workshop embraced it. When I pointed to a few suspicious racks of clothing bearing price tags, he told me that Levi’s had donated the clothing and patrons could purchase the items through Pay Pal and all proceeds would go directly into three cornerstone non-profits in the Mission: Plaza Adelante, Southern Exposure and The Women’s Building.

So, although Levi’s isn’t getting a dime or any type of ownership over what is produced by the influx of resident artists in the space, they are experimenting with a new type of openness. This unique type of engagement helps Levi’s to localize the brand in the very city they were established in years ago, simply by providing resources and encouraging the passion of the local community. There is a potential for this model to expand, where brands can collaborate with communities to provide the crucial resources the community needs to cultivate creativity.  My intention isn’t to rouse a political debate here, but maybe where budget restrained governments are lacking, brands can help to facilitate civic empowerment-just as long as it is the community driving the effort. The roles of brands are changing, so keep an eye out for more progressive partnerships like this one, and re-examine your previous perception of a brand's role in social responsibility: things aren’t always what they seem.

As frog's Content and Community manager, Kristina Loring curates, writes, and edits the design mind platform. When she's not spreading frog's ideas across the Internet and the city, you can find her raving about digital activism, the power to humanize tech, and community-led innovation.