Jamie Cohen Szulc, the CMO of Levi Strauss & Co. said that as the consumers are taking the wheel of their media consumption, Levi’s will be giving them the keys to drive it.

Cohen Szulc encouraged the audience (at the Ad:tech San Francisco 2010 conference in April) to stop thinking about the traditional ways of advertising and focus on using the digital platforms to get consumers engaged.

In Cohen Szulc’s Ad:tech speech, he discussed the fact that people submit more content on YouTube in a few months than television networks have made in years. He says that marketers now need to be more disruptive – and Levi’s has taken this approach with their “Go Forth” campaign.

This campaign asked the consumers to re-define what this country is about, and it used digital programs, which included a Constitution that users could “rewrite” (this can be seen on social networking sites). There was also a $100,000 treasure hunt and a Levi’s-sponsored road trip that was documented with blogs, social media, and videos posted online. Cohen Szulc called it a “refreshed look at Levi’s”, saying that it was about creating an experience for the consumers rather than just selling a product.

The Levi’s Dockers brand used a similar marketing approach with its “Wear the Pants” campaign. They used online platforms (social media, email, etc.) to promote a contest for free pants. To spread the word, Dockers ran a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl, and then used social media to promote it. After the Super Bowl ad ran, Dockers was held the number one and two spot for the most searched word on Google for two whole days, resulting in a sales increase of 240%.

Cohen Szulc says that marketers need to stop focusing on loyalty, and instead focus on advocacy. He says, “Loyalty is very passive… Advocacy is active.”