The Levi Strauss Company, based in the United States, is a global marketer and a global producer of wearing apparel products. The company is pursuing two major objectives with respect to its global marketing effort. First, the company seeks to establish a base market share in each national or regional market for the company's existing products to serve as a launch pad for product diversification in each of the various markets national or regional markets. Second, Levi Strauss seeks to develop a self-sufficiency in each of the national or regional markets to minimize problems associated with long supply lines and import/export factors. The problem addressed in this case involves the development of an advertising strategy to promote the attainment of each of the company's major objectives associated with its global marketing effort.
Justification for Problem Definition
Levi Strauss markets its products in 70 different countries and produces its products in 25 separate countries. Thus, diversity is a major characteristic of both the company's target markets and its production and distribution environments. This diversity assumes even greater significance when considered within the context of the development of regional trading blocs around the world.
The company has identified three global advertising strategy alternatives. These three alternatives, which are assessed in this case analysis, are as follows: (1) create advertising campaigns at local and regional levels with input (read as right of disapproval) from corporate headquarters·the status quo alternative; (2) rely on independently created advertising at local and regional levels; and (3) centralize the creation of advertising at corporate headquarters to provide a global consistency (read as sameness) in the company's advertising messages.
Global marketing in the last years of the twentieth century is moving in the direction of the concept of mass customization...