Digital Design Blog

Levi’s and Project Runway Raise Bar for Consumer Participation

As the Web 2.0 “revolution” starts to mature, we are finally starting to see marketers evolve out of the awkward early stages of just recognizing consumer participation but into actually enabling something much more profound.

Until now advertisers have largely been focused on promoting some type of user-generated content contest. Think Dorito’s Super Bowl commercial contest from last year. From cookies to soap to cheese, this type of contest (or sweepstakes, since that what it really is) has become an advertising staple. But as I, and many of my colleagues believe, the concept of consumer participation can go well beyond contests and actually start to effect the way a company not only markets but *makes* products.

One of the best examples of this new trend is the Levi’s Project 501 Design Challenge done in conjunction with Bravo’s Project Runway and produced by Avenue A | Razorfish.

The Project 501 concept builds on the UGC contest trend but takes it to the next level by inviting users to create their own denim fashion designs. It offers a pretty remarkable grand prize: the production and sale of the user’s product design on Levis.com.

The concept is simple: take the 501® jeans and the trucker jacket and use them as the raw material to design your own denim masterpiece. Whatever you imagine, make sure it captures the originality and youthful spirit of Levi’s®.

Once the people have voted, you’ll find out if your design will be the one produced and sold on Levi.com. Don’t forget, you need the stylish Project 501® community to rate your design the highest. The more people who give your design five rivets, the more chance you have of reaching the top 20! So tell your friends to register and rate today!

Project 501 is a pretty interesting experiment. Provide consumers and aspiring fashionistas brand and design tools (see below) and then turn them loose.

The uptake on the contest/project is really impressive. Clearly Levi’s is on to something here. While we’ve seen consumer participation in product design before — most notably for Legos — but not with a brand and TV program that is so high on the culture radar.

We’ll be eager to see how the project turns out, but quite clearly it’s already a success and maybe, just maybe, it’s a starting point for a whole new level of consumer and product interaction.