The iconic denim brand, Levi’s, has been praised online for its smart work around World Cup branding policies which prevented them from displaying their branding in or around World Cup games.
The policy, enforced by FIFA, does not allow for any branding in or around stadiums hosting World Cup Games for brands which are not official World Cup sponsors. The Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara is a World Cup venue and thus, has been temporarily renamed as the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, for the purposes of the tournament and all signage for the brand around the stadium was removed.
However, rather than take down the signage completely, Levi’s instead covered their logo in white, meaning the famous ’bat wing’ shape of their logo remained but the brand name was hidden. The bat wing silhouette is so distinctive that even in the absence of the brand name, the public immediately knew it was Levi’s, demonstrating the strength of the Levi’s brand identity. The logo was first introduced in 1967 and closely resembles the shape which is stitched into the back pockets of Levi’s jeans. Levi’s played into the online reaction, posting on Tik Tok with the viral sound, “Nobody’s gonna know”, over a video of them covering the signage. The brand has even made its social media profile pictures an image of the white batwing logo without the word mark to match that on the Stadium.
This has prompted an online discussion regarding whether Levis’ actions can be classed as ‘ambush marketing’. Ambush marketing is where a brand capitalises on the goodwill of a major event without officially sponsoring it, instead implying association in a less direct way. However, in this case, Levi’s did not launch any new campaign, the signage was up prior to the World Cup, it was its covering that sparked reaction online.
Some may argue that Levi’s did not comply with FIFA’s rule in that full reference to the brand (the batwing as well as the word mark) should have been removed, especially given that the batwing itself is so recognisable. On the other hand, these events could be seen to merely demonstrate that Levi’s possess strong trade mark recognition, and Levi’s have used that aspect of the events unfolded to capitalise on the brand’s own goodwill in the silhouette of its logo.
If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.
