The Challenge: Changing Corporate Behavior

In 1996, Lee Jeans faced a significant market expansion barrier: corporate dress codes prohibited jeans in the workplace, limiting their total addressable market. The company needed a strategy to shift corporate culture and drive B2B adoption while maintaining brand value.

Strategic Approach: Use a Charity Tie-In to Compel Action

Our team developed a dual-impact initiative that would simultaneously:

• Break down corporate resistance to workplace jeans

• Create positive brand association through meaningful social impact

• Drive B2B engagement through C-suite outreach

The solution: Lee National Denim Day, a corporate giving program that transformed dress code exceptions into charitable contributions.

Execution: Integrated Campaign, Meticulously Implemented

The program launched with a multi-channel B2B marketing strategy:

• Targeted C-suite outreach to Fortune 5,000 companies

• Premium direct mail campaign featuring personalized CEO communications

• Full-page placements in Fortune and Forbes

• Turnkey implementation kits for corporate partners

The value proposition was compelling: Companies could boost employee engagement and demonstrate corporate social responsibility while testing relaxed dress code policies. Employees could wear jeans by donating $5 to breast cancer research through the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

The Results

• Exceeded first-year adoption targets by 43% with 4,300 corporate partners

• Generated $98 million for breast cancer research over 19 years

• Successfully penetrated the corporate market, contributing to mainstream acceptance of workplace denim

• Created lasting brand equity through authentic corporate social responsibility

Strategic Insight

The campaign's success stemmed from aligning multiple stakeholder interests: corporate social responsibility for executives, employee engagement for HR, market expansion for Lee, and meaningful social impact for participants.

Innovative Detail

Our premium C-suite outreach campaign was so effective that over 100 CEOs who couldn't participate still sent personal responses with voluntary donations, generating an additional $10,000 in unexpected contributions. This demonstrated the campaign's ability to create meaningful C-suite engagement, even among non-participants.