Mills on ... Levi's.(Levi's ad )(Brief Article)

I've watched the new Levi's ad a dozen times or so over the space of a few days, and each time I find a new piece of visual trickery to marvel at. The plot, such as one can describe it, sees a group of friends pull up at a run-down roadside diner. They jump out of the car and, like gymnasts warming up, gradually unwind and stretch their limbs. Torsos revolve, a tapping foot completes a 360-degree circle, heads spin and are swapped. For those of us whose joints ache and creak, it's painful to watch. But then, that's the point -- and not just because I'm too old for this product. For our group of friends are wearing Levi's twisted jeans and the ad simply is the visual expression of the jeans' USP: denim that fits like a second skin and allows great freedom of movement.

Now, one can look at the film on several levels. Advertising wonks will focus on the technical level. Certainly the post-production is quite brilliant. Given that the twist is the motif on which the ad is built, they couldn't afford anything remotely clunky in the special effects department. And thanks to The Mill, they succeed triumphantly. The special effects are woven in so seamlessly that it's not until afterwards that you think: "Did I really see that? And how did they manage it?" Visual trickery with a visual purpose -- now that's what I like.

Tonally, the film has an air of confidence and authority that adds an extra impact. It also shows an advertiser back at the top of its game. This is remarkable considering the difficulties that Levi's has been through. When your flagship product is denim and denim falls through the floor to the extent that market share halves, your confidence takes a battering.

With hindsight, if you cast back to the tail-end of the 501's advertising, which looked like it was mining a tired seam, you can see the cracks beginning to show as Levi's looked for a new direction. Remember Kevin the hamster? A warning to us all of the danger of trying too hard to be cool. A recovery of this magnitude is also quite an achievement for a client marketing team so ...