MBA642 Project Management Plan: Levi's Type 1 Jeans Failure & Recovery

This report presents a comprehensive project management plan for Levi's, specifically addressing the failure of their Type 1 jeans. The report begins with an introduction and background, followed by a detailed analysis of the factors contributing to the product's failure, including costs, marketing, target demographics, market forces, international factors, the skills and personalities of the project management team, stakeholder considerations, and competitor tactics. Based on this analysis, the report recommends a project plan and strategy, outlining project scope and objectives, a detailed project timeline using the IPECC framework (Initiation, Planning, Execution, Control, and Closing), a project budget, a risk mitigation plan, and stakeholder roles. The timeline is presented in both narrative and Gantt chart formats. The budget includes estimated costs for various activities and resources. The risk mitigation plan identifies potential risks and proposes solutions. The report concludes with general recommendations for Levi's and provides relevant references to support the analysis and recommendations.

Running Head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management Plan for Levi’s Company
Name of the Student
Name of the University

1PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Background of the Project................................................................................2
2. Analysis of the Failure of the Brand............................................................................................2
2.1 Costs......................................................................................................................................3
2.2 Marketing...............................................................................................................................3
2.3 Demographic of Target Market.............................................................................................4
2.4 Market Forces........................................................................................................................4
2.5 International Factors..............................................................................................................4
2.6 Skills and Personalities of PM Team.....................................................................................5
2.7 Levi Stakeholders..................................................................................................................5
2.8 Competitors’ Project Management Tactics...........................................................................5
3. Recommended Project Plan and Strategy....................................................................................5
3.1 Project Scope and Objectives................................................................................................5
3.2 Project Timeline.....................................................................................................................6
3.3 Project Budget.....................................................................................................................10
3.4 Project Risks and Mitigation Plan.......................................................................................11
3.5 Stakeholder Roles in the Project..........................................................................................12
4. Conclusion and General Recommendations..............................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................14

2PROJECT MANAGEMENT
1. Introduction and Background of the Project
Levi’s is a well-known global brand that has been operational since 1853, one of the
oldest running global brands in current times. The most popular product of Levi’s is denim jeans
whereas the company also sells products like shoes, t-shirts, casual shirts and others (DeFeo,
Harding and Wood 2017). The popularity of the denim jeans sold by Levi’s have been
significantly high globally and in the late 20th century, many surveys have concluded that Levi’s
has been one of the best and the most ‘original’ brands in the world. In spite of global popularity
and sky-rocketing annual revenue, Levi’s started facing problems including the complete failure
of the new “Silvertab” range. Another failure was the new Type 1 range that had all the
signatures of Levi’s brand but failed to survive in the market.
The purpose of this report is to discuss the reasons of failure of the Type 1 range of jeans
by Levi’s and develop a project management plan for successful launching of new range by the
company.
2. Analysis of the Failure of the Brand
Considering the product nature and quality for the Type 1 jeans, the main reasons behind
the failure can be multi-fold. If the product is considered, it had all the premium signatures of
Levi’s denim jeans and was expected to flourish in the market once it was launched (Trapova
2018). However, it completely failed as there were very low sales and increasing discontent
among the customers regarding the product. The main factors behind the failure of the brand are
investigated as follows.

3PROJECT MANAGEMENT
2.1 Costs
Conducting a basic research, the biggest factor that was behind the failure of the type 1
line has come out to be cost. It has been found that since the product had all the premium Levi’s
brand signatures along with red line, the product had a significantly high pricing, similar to the
premium products of the brand. However, the pricing strategy for the brand was poorly
developed and there are no clear indication of the optimum price of the product (Gulbakhor and
Umurova 2018). As a result, different outlets sold the product at different prices – one customer
reported that he bought the product for $100 whereas another customer bought the same product
from a different retailer for $30. This huge difference in pricing of the same product resulted in
discontent among the customers and after some time, the company had to withdraw the product
completely from the market.
2.2 Marketing
One of the major factors behind the failure of the Type 1 range of denim jeans by Levi’s
is marketing. Levi’s does extensive marketing of products once a new range is launched in
addition to the marketing of the existing ranges. However, for this range particularly, the global
marketing has apparently not being done in a proper manner considering the brand image and
value of the company. Global marketing has been done in a limited scale and in addition, the
pricing range of the product has not been disclosed to the interested customers (McQueen et al.
2017). As a result, various retailers had the opportunity to place price tags on the product as per
their will. This also contributed to the increasing discontent among the customers. Extensive
marketing strategies of the competitor brands have also played their parts in resulting the
downfall of the type 1 range.

4PROJECT MANAGEMENT
2.3 Demographic of Target Market
Most of the products of Levi’s are generally targeted towards the younger customers of
the market as they are the biggest customers of denim jeans products. Similarly, for the type 1
brand, the target demographic of the market was the younger generation (Farris, Shames and
Mitchell 2017). However, as per the reports, this particular range of denim jeans was too cutting
edge, even for the specific target demographics while the customers also failed to pay for such
highly priced products that did not give them the traditional Levi’s jeans feel.
2.4 Market Forces
Market forces also played significant part in the downfall of the Type 1 brand. As it is
known, Levi’s has a number of serious competitors in both global and national markets who have
better pricing and marketing strategies to suit the requirements and demands of the customers.
Brands like Hilfiger, Benetton, Gap and others have been able to get their stronghold on the
denim jeans market and have provided constant competition to Levi’s (Verma 2017). Their better
pricing strategy for similar quality products, trendy designs and extensive marketing have
resulted in diminishing interest on Levi’s products which were more evident in the case of type 1
range launched by the company.
2.5 International Factors
International factors have somewhat contributed towards the failure of the Type 1 range.
This factor has arisen because of Levi’s lack of interest in tying up with international
supermarket brands like Tesco, who were interested in selling their products in their supermarket
chains (Su and Tong 2016). Levi’s claimed that they have a proper brand image that will be
deflated if they allow supermarkets to sell their products.

5PROJECT MANAGEMENT
2.6 Skills and Personalities of PM Team
Project Management teams in most of the companies are the main driving forces behind
the success of a brand / new line of products. Their skills and personalities enable the companies
to explore and manage new opportunities for growth in the market (Samuel et al. 2018).
However, in this case, the PM team lacked proper insight of the market while managing the
launch of the new products line. They failed to identify the gaps in the market and also did not
care to develop proper marketing and pricing strategies for the new product line.
2.7 Levi Stakeholders
If the interviews and media releases from the Levi stakeholders are to be considered, it is
very clear that they have been so careful in preserving the brand image of the company that they
failed to identify the changes in the global market.
2.8 Competitors’ Project Management Tactics
The main competitors of the company have extensively utilised their project management
tactics to ensure the success of their new product lines and ranges, which Levi’s somewhat failed
to do. In addition to marketing, the competitors also ensured global distribution of the products
through several supply chains in addition to specific pricing strategies that suited the
requirements of the customers (Farris, Shames and Mitchell 2017).
3. Recommended Project Plan and Strategy
3.1 Project Scope and Objectives
The main scope of this project is to develop an appropriate marketing and product launch
strategy to avoid failures like the type 1 jeans. The objectives are developed as follows.

6PROJECT MANAGEMENT
 To develop a new product / range launch strategy
 To develop a tentative timeline to be followed for the launch
 To estimate budget for conducting the product launch
 To analyse risks associated with the launch of the new product
 To specify the roles to be played by the stakeholders in the project
3.2 Project Timeline
The project will be conducted in the five distinct stages of IPECC – Initiation, Planning,
Execution, Control and Closing. The project will be broken down in the form of work
breakdown structure following these five stages are shown below.

7PROJECT MANAGEMENT
WBS Task Name
0 Developing Marketing and Launch Strategy for New Product Line for Levi's
1 Initiation
1.1 Discussing the new product line
1.2 Discussing the launch strategy for the new product line
1.3 Develop the pricing strategy for the new product
1.4 Develop marketing project proposal
1.5 Receive green light to proceed with the project
2 Planning
2.1 Develop the scope of the project
2.2 Identify the main objectives
2.3 Create work breakdown and estimate timeline
2.4 Estimate funding required for the project
2.5 Identify the risks of the project and develop mitigation plan
2.6 Complete the development of the project plan
3 Execution
3.1 Conduct quality testing of the new product
3.2 Conduct analysis of the target market
3.3 Analyse the current marketing strategies of the rival companies
3.4 Create a plan for the target market
3.5 Develop pricing strategy for the new product line
3.6 Conduct feasibility testing of the pricing strategy
3.7 Develop detailed marketing strategy for the new product line
3.8 Tie up with retail chain brands for increasing retail outlets
3.9 Finalise the marketing plan
4 Control
4.1 Conduct monitoring of the project
4.2 Conduct review of the various stages of execution
4.3 Provide recommendations to the board based on the studies in the market
5 Closing
5.1 Review the final marketing plan
5.2 Receive go ahead message to proceed with the plan

8PROJECT MANAGEMENT
The work breakdown structure has been successfully able to simplify the work
requirements of the project and now the individual work packages of the project shown above
can be scheduled to develop a tentative timeline for the project as shown in the following table.
WBS Task Name Duration Start Finish
0 Developing Marketing and Launch Strategy for New Product
Line for Levi's
108 days Mon 10-02-20 Wed 08-07-20
1 Initiation 8 days Mon 10-02-20 Wed 19-02-20
1.1 Discussing the new product line 2 days Mon 10-02-20 Tue 11-02-20
1.2 Discussing the launch strategy for the new product line 2 days Wed 12-02-20 Thu 13-02-20
1.3 Develop the pricing strategy for the new product 2 days Fri 14-02-20 Mon 17-02-20
1.4 Develop marketing project proposal 2 days Tue 18-02-20 Wed 19-02-20
1.5 Receive green light to proceed with the project 0 days Wed 19-02-20 Wed 19-02-20
2 Planning 10 days Thu 20-02-20 Wed 04-03-20
2.1 Develop the scope of the project 2 days Thu 20-02-20 Fri 21-02-20
2.2 Identify the main objectives 2 days Mon 24-02-20 Tue 25-02-20
2.3 Create work breakdown and estimate timeline 2 days Wed 26-02-20 Thu 27-02-20
2.4 Estimate funding required for the project 2 days Fri 28-02-20 Mon 02-03-20
2.5 Identify the risks of the project and develop mitigation plan 2 days Tue 03-03-20 Wed 04-03-20
2.6 Complete the development of the project plan 0 days Wed 04-03-20 Wed 04-03-20
3 Execution 80 days Thu 05-03-20 Wed 24-06-20
3.1 Conduct quality testing of the new product 5 days Thu 05-03-20 Wed 11-03-20
3.2 Conduct analysis of the target market 5 days Thu 12-03-20 Wed 18-03-20
3.3 Analyse the current marketing strategies of the rival companies 10 days Thu 19-03-20 Wed 01-04-20
3.4 Create a plan for the target market 10 days Thu 02-04-20 Wed 15-04-20
3.5 Develop pricing strategy for the new product line 10 days Thu 16-04-20 Wed 29-04-20
3.6 Conduct feasibility testing of the pricing strategy 10 days Thu 30-04-20 Wed 13-05-20
3.7 Develop detailed marketing strategy for the new product line 15 days Thu 14-05-20 Wed 03-06-20
3.8 Tie up with retail chain brands for increasing retail outlets 15 days Thu 04-06-20 Wed 24-06-20
3.9 Finalise the marketing plan 0 days Wed 24-06-20 Wed 24-06-20
4 Control 80 days Thu 05-03-20 Wed 24-06-20

9PROJECT MANAGEMENT
4.1 Conduct monitoring of the project 35 days Thu 05-03-20 Wed 22-04-20
4.2 Conduct review of the various stages of execution 35 days Thu 23-04-20 Wed 10-06-20
4.3 Provide recommendations to the board based on the studies in
the market
10 days Thu 11-06-20 Wed 24-06-20
5 Closing 10 days Thu 25-06-20 Wed 08-07-20
5.1 Review the final marketing plan 5 days Thu 25-06-20 Wed 01-07-20
5.2 Receive go ahead message to proceed with the plan 5 days Thu 02-07-20 Wed 08-07-20
5.3 Sign off and officially close the project 0 days Wed 08-07-20 Wed 08-07-20
This schedule can also be depicted in the form of a Gantt chart as shown in the following
diagram.

10PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Figure 1: Gantt Chart of the Project
(Source: Created by Author)
3.3 Project Budget
Following table shows an approximate budget that will be required for the project.

11PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Resource / Activity Estimated Budget
Business Analytics Software $5000
Quality Analysis Tools $5000
Marketing Costs $10000
Supplier Payments and Other Costs $5000
TOTAL $25,000
3.4 Project Risks and Mitigation Plan
There are some risks that need to be identified during the project so that mitigation plan
can be developed accordingly.
Possible Risk Occurrence Chance Extent of Impact Mitigation
Poor financial condition
of the market / inflation
High High Postpone the launch of
the product or review
and revise the pricing of
the products
Strong market
competition
High Medium Focus on a specific line
of products and conduct
feasibility testing before
launch
Diminishing demands of
the products in market
High High Review the products
that have diminishing
demands and focus on
the current trends in the
market while

12PROJECT MANAGEMENT
developing products
accordingly
3.5 Stakeholder Roles in the Project
As per the main drawbacks of the company identified above, it is recommended that the
stakeholders need to play major roles in the commercial success of the products launched by the
company. The stakeholder roles for the project are specified as follows.
Stakeholder Specific Roles and Work Requirements
Project Manager Ensure all the steps in the project are followed
without deviating from the scope and focus
Product Manager Ensure the products are quality tested before launch
Marketing Manager Develop appropriate pricing strategy for the
products as per the demands in the market, consider
tie-ups with retail chains for outsourcing of the
products’ sales
Public Relations Manager Conduct detailed marketing on the target market
through various media
4. Conclusion and General Recommendations
Finally, it can be concluded that the failure of Type 1 line of denim jeans by Levi’s brand
failed due to multiple factors working at the same time that included lack of appropriate pricing
strategy, market competition, poor project management, failure to live up to the expectations and
demands of the customers and others. Hence, it is recommended for the company to review this

13PROJECT MANAGEMENT
failure and ensure appropriate plans are in place for future project launches. The company should
also come out of its traditions of maintaining brand image and respond better to the changes in
the global market in addition to focusing on a specific line of products rather than becoming a
‘jack of all trades’.

14PROJECT MANAGEMENT
References
Bach, M.S., 2018. She Has Good Jeans: A History of Denim as Womenswear.
Bonander, R. (2020). Flopped products. [online] AskMen. Available at:
https://www.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/139c_top_10_list.html [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020].
Brandfailures.blogspot.com. (2020). Tired Brands: Levi’s. [online] Available at:
http://brandfailures.blogspot.com/2007/04/tired-brands-levis.html [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020].
DeFeo, C., Harding, J. and Wood, R., 2017, July. “Growing mangoes in Iceland”: How social
media and online communities enable an antifragile and propitiously unpredictable innovation
model. In ECSM 2017 4th European Conference on Social Media (p. 90). Academic
Conferences and publishing limited.
Farris, P.W., Shames, E.R. and Mitchell, J., 2017. Levi's at Wal-Mart?. Darden Business
Publishing Cases.
FashionWindows Network. (2020). Levi's Launches Type 1 Jeans - FashionWindows Network.
[online] Available at: https://www.fashionwindows.net/2003/01/levis-launches-type-1-jeans/
[Accessed 10 Feb. 2020].
Gulbakhor, N. and Umurova, K., 2018. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING
MATERIALS, TEXTBOOKS AND COURSEBOOKS. Интернаука, (9), pp.28-29.
Hopf, V., Koch, J. and Bug, P., 2017. Omnichannel index of fashion and lifestyle retailers from a
customers’ perspective: indexing COS, Levi’s, Hugo Boss, and Pull&Bear.

15PROJECT MANAGEMENT
McQueen, R.H., Batcheller, J.C., Moran, L.J., Zhang, H. and Hooper, P.M., 2017. Reducing
laundering frequency to prolong the life of denim jeans. International Journal of Consumer
Studies, 41(1), pp.36-45.
Samuel, A., Taylor, D., White, G.R. and Norris, M., 2018. Unpacking the authenticity gap in
corporate social responsibility: lessons learned from Levi’s ‘Go Forth
Braddock’campaign. Journal of Brand Management, 25(1), pp.53-67.
Saxena, A., 2019. Development of Travel Jeans for Louis Philippe Jeans.
Su, J. and Tong, X., 2016. Brand personality, consumer satisfaction, and loyalty: A perspective
from denim jeans brands. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 44(4), pp.427-446.
Susanto, P.C., 2019. Curiosity as an Effective In-stream Advertising Appeal: Visual and Textual
Study of Levi’s Circles Ad. KnE Social Sciences, pp.426-434.
Top Ten Lists. (2020). Top 10 Failed Products. [online] Available at:
https://www.smashinglists.com/top-10-failed-products/ [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020].
Trapova, A., 2018. The misconstrued notion of consent in EU trade mark law. Journal of
Intellectual Property Law & Practice, Forthcoming.
Vaibhavmathankar.blogspot.com. (2020). Why do brand fail?. [online] Available at:
http://vaibhavmathankar.blogspot.com/2013/01/why-do-brand-fail.html [Accessed 10 Feb.
2020].
Verma, S., 2017. Women’s wear competition in denim jeans and consumer analysis. NIFt-
Mumbai.