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Fast Company

‘Reiimagine' progress: How Levi's finds great culture fit, with a hat tip to Beyoncé

When Beyoncé launched the track list to her album Cowboy Carter ahead of its release in March 2024, Levi's chief marketing officer Kenny Mitchell spotted an opportunity. Noticing the song 'Levii's Jeans,' Mitchell moved quickly, renaming the brand's social channels as 'Levii's'—a move that he says paved the way for one of the brand's most ambitious and effective collaborations. It's resulted in a series of ads, a capsule collection, and innumerably viral moments on Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tour, with the singer wearing custom Levi's throughout. I connected with Mitchell for a wide-ranging conversation where he shared his playbook for the groundbreaking Beyoncé colab, how subcultures can be just as important as mass-market events, why he and Levi's didn't buckle in the face of the pressure for the company to drop its DEI initiatives, and his four-step process for crafting a compelling brand story. How do you identify brand partners? Obviously Beyoncé is part of that, but how else do you try to connect Levi's to the zeitgeist? Often when we show up in culture, it can happen in the form of being adjacent and connected to some of the biggest icons in the world. Beyoncé is a great representation of that. Subscribe to the Design latest innovations in design brought to you every weekday SIGN UP Privacy Policy | Fast Company Newsletters advertisement The early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, September 5, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.