At least that’s the impression we got after visiting their latest site, aptly titled UnbuttonYourBeast dot com. It’s in honor of the classic 501 jean, which we haven’t worn since 3rd grade.
Though built by the folks at EVB, Levi’s AoR is BBH. Yet another case of agency-needs-digitial-shop. Collectibely, BBH, EVB, AARF and Cutwater have been working to improve the jeans-maker’s dismal US sales (in the second quarter 2008 Levi’s took home $1 million in revenue, compared to $46 million in Q2 2007) via print, TV, viral and now digital media. This time, they really put the penis back in penis. Mission accomplished!
UnbuttonYourBeast feels like Jim Henson on acid. You pick one of four characters (not really sure why), and then click next. In the little flash video that follows, we see a pair of jeans with something jumping around in the crotch area. Is it Bette Midler back from 1993? Is it crabs? The latter is possible, since “Paul the Pincher” is an optoinal character to pick. Click continued to see Paul, and his cohorts “Cookie” and “Sock Nasty”. “Trout Troutman” is pictured above.
The whole thing screams, “WHAT THE FLOCK/FRACK/PHUCK” or whatever you want to say. We’re kind of surprised that there weren’t clam, beaver or taco characters too. Have women stopped wearing 501s?
At the end of the day, this thing is not only a poor execution of “how to get people interested in the product”, but also (as Tribble put it) just plain crass. Back to the drawing board, if you don’t have to sell it to pay rent.
More: “<BBH’s Blacklist”