As the newly minted – and first female – CEO of the legendary denim brand Levi Strauss & Co. she learned that music legend Beyoncé would mention the name of her company in the title of one of her songs current album Cowboy Carter.
In return, Levi’s launched its “REIIMAGINE” campaign with Beyoncé herself, who is notoriously averse to brand partnerships.
“It’s like a dream come true to have Beyoncé name a song after your brand,” Gass said Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit on Tuesday in Laguna Niguel, California. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment.”
The song title was not an advertisement or partnership. All Gass and her Levi’s team heard leading up to the album’s release were just “little whispers” just days before. “It was really completely organic.”
But Queen Bey’s love for Levi’s goes way back, Gass said Fortune’s Ellie Austin, and their relationship is one that has been nurtured over time. “She’s been a fan of the brand for decades – just like we’ve been a fan of hers,” she said. In the 1990s, when Beyoncé made up a third of Destiny’s Child, Levi’s once outfitted the entire group – and the company still has a pair of Beyoncé’s jeans “in the vault.”
New Americana
Cowboy Carter’s song is spelled as LEVII’S JEANS, not Levi’s. A lawyer asked Gass if she was worried about trademark infringement, she recalls with a laugh. “I thought: Are you crazy? This is a gift.”
When the Levi’s team knew the song was coming, they jumped into action and changed all of their social media usernames to match the song’s stylization. “And then it just went crazy.” Gass knew it was important to take advantage of the opportunity. “You obviously don’t get these moments very often,” she said. “When we saw the reaction, [we thought]Maybe there’s something more here.”
A few weeks after the album’s release, Gass had dinner with the store manager of Levi’s, the chief marketing officer and the chief product officer, as well as two top-secret key people in Beyoncé’s circle. “We just started reimagining what was possible.”
The 30-second spot featuring Beyoncé in a laundromat is actually a remake of a similarly popular advertising campaign The brand did this in the mid-’80s, Gass said. “The wonderful thing about Levi’s is that we have all the incredible things heritage. So [we get to] Take this and move it forward with one of the world’s greatest icons.”
The entire campaign was created in five months, from the idea to the signing of the contract to the shooting. “Here we are, started, and it was a great lesson for the team [about] How to move quickly and with agility and capture those moments because they don’t come around often.”
The Beyoncé campaign, Gass said, resulted in over 2.4 billion impressions.
Gass then pointed to her jacket, which was covered in sparkles. “This was one of the many options created for Beyoncé for the shoot, but she didn’t choose to wear it,” she said. “So I can wear it. But I will tell you, given all the feedback I’m getting at this conference. I suspect this will be in production. Stay tuned.”
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