Levi Strauss is among the most iconic and enduring American brands, making quality denim jeans since Levi’s invented blue jeans in San Francisco in 1873. Since then, Americans have had a love affair with their Levi’s – lived in and so cherished they’re usually handed to the next person rather than thrown out.

In May 2013, Levi Strauss & Co. secured a 20-year naming-rights agreement with the San Francisco 49ers football team to call its new home “Levi’s Stadium,” an opportunity to punctuate a deep commitment to its San Francisco home community.

On a 2014 November morning, Levi’s Stadium – nicknamed “Field of Jeans*,” – literally became “Levi’s Field of Jeans,” featuring 1.85 million square feet of playing field topped with nearly 20,000 pairs of jeans, donated by the community and 49ers fans over two weeks to Goodwill, a nonprofit network of used-clothing stores that funds job training programs through the resale of used clothing. The only green on the field left was a swath of turf forming the universal recycling symbol.

The activation enabled Levi’s to bring its built for the long haul brand promise to life on the 49ers’ football field, through donated jeans making the haul to their next owners, while raising funds for Goodwill by the sale of these donations and alleviating stress on the planet – through reduced waste, water and landfill mass.

A time-lapse video of the activation went viral and capped a powerful PR-driven campaign that kept 12+ tons of clothing out of landfills.

*Field of Dreams is a classic American sports movie.

Through the PR campaign Levi’s sought to:

• Highlight the brand’s promise and core values in its first year of San Francisco 49ers stadium sponsorship, further entrenching its ties with the 49ers and fans.

• Bring Levi’s social responsibility to life, highlighting the community and sustainability practices built into every level of its business.

• Burnish the enduring legacy and quality of the Levi’s brand among new, potential customers, highlighting its place in the fabric of American life.

Levi’s video went out to the world, showing Levi’s commitment to community, sustainability and built for the long haul brand promise.

• Over two weeks, in one city, Levi’s collected & donated nearly 20,000 pairs of jeans, keeping 12 tons+ of clothing out of landfills and funding Goodwill job-training programs.

• 56 unique stories appeared in leading U.S. publications like Sports Illustrated, Bloomberg, Mashable and GQ Magazine, plus tweets by key sports commentators.

• The campaign achieved 238 million impressions and a 25 million social reach.

“When the 49ers announced its stadium partnership with Levi's, they jokingly nicknamed the new home the "Field of Jeans,"...now the company has gone literal with the moniker, covering the turf with donated denim for a day. The company collected … jeans to be donated to Goodwill, but first it spread them out over the 49ers' field to create an impressive visual.” Sports Illustrated

The two-week campaign kicked off in late October with an in-stadium announcement for the blue-jeans drive and a call-for-jeans video with 49ers team-member Vernon Davis. Levi’s and 49ers social channels also distributed the video. Throughout the campaign, Goodwill collection bins were posted at Levi’s headquarters, the office of the 49ers and Goodwill stores, as well as throughout Levi’s Stadium for the 49ers November 2nd game.

Nov. 12, volunteers descended on Levi’s Stadium to deliver nearly 20,000 pairs – 12+ tons – of jeans, working overnight to create a literal Field of Jeans. Every bit of turf was covered in denim, except a swath of grass midfield forming a recycling symbol.

Images and a time-lapse video of the build ignited local, regional and national broadcast coverage, along with tweets by prominent sports commentators and other influencers. Levi’s and 49ers tweets directed fans to the time-lapse video on Levi’s Stadium’s home page.

Levi’s has long been the gold standard for denim. But the category has stiff competition as others attempt to take a bigger share of consumer dollars. By becoming naming-rights partner for the 49ers’ new stadium – a premier sports and entertainment destination – Levi’s sought to engage with new consumer audiences and the community.

Levi’s values of sustainability and community overlap with those of the 49ers and social-minded fans. But many brands make similar claims, leading people to want to “see it to believe it.” Levi’s used this insight to plan an activation that celebrated its partnership and provided the needed proof.

Our shaping insight was that in a marketing world filled with claims of commitment to sustainability and community, people have become wary and skeptical of truth-versus-hype and want to see the commitment in action. Levi’s is one company and brand that lives and breathes these values, and wanted to demonstrate this authenticity in a very tangible, visual and engaging way.

We sought a highly sharable moment in time that would enable the brand to creatively and effectively illuminate its singular responsibility to these values in a way that involved fans at the stadium and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and brought to life Levi’s built for the long haul brand promise. Involving Goodwill had the added bonus of funding job training programs as a result of the resale of the donated jeans.