Levi's teams up with Riff Raff for their newest campaign

Levi’s new YOUR VOICE. YOUR WAY. campaign builds from the creative insight that many people are ready to stand up, use their voice and express themselves, but one of the largest obstacles is knowing what we want to say, how to say it and trusting that the expression of our own voice can happen in big and small ways all with the help of Riff Raff Studios.

The documentary by director Jon E Price, is an exploration of these questions: What is Voice? Where do we find it? How do we use it? Learning from 5 inspiring artists that have participated in the Levi’s Music Project in Paris (George Ka), London (Hak Baker) and Barcelona (Simbiat Aly Eboh, Adam Lakti). All of the young musicians are our young musicians are active in their local communities and; are role models for how we use our voice: we are learning from them what voice means in their life and what or who in their community has inspired them to find, trust and use theirs. 

The TVC is a key piece of content for this documentary lead, brand video campaign built from the core creative insights learned from our artists. The voice over was written and adapted from quotes and conversations with the artists. The visuals and scenes were shot to distill and represent not just the young musicians, but their communities and the ecosystems. The campaign is not just focused on how youth or exceptional individuals should be using their voice, it portrays the reality of these ecosystems of change. It shows us that we can all do the little things in our lives that can make us  - and our communities - happier. 

This campaign also launches levismusic.com which will be a hub for the exploration of expression through music and how the Levi’s brand provides access to music in communities. Launching with Jon E Price’s documentary VOICE, levismusic.com creates a space to explore this new brand message series, as well as showcasing music from the young musicians involved in the campaign and giving the audience a deeper insight into the work of the Levi’s Music Project.

The core creative came from an initial thought: many inspirational campaigns motivate us by profiling the superhumans - the record breaking, history changing, trend setting heroes of our days. They can inspire us that society can change, but they also might make us feel like we could never be that cool, powerful, heroic, smart or talented; they make change feel big and risky.

Your Voice. Your Way. was thus sculpted to inspire people that change can be big or small, come in waves, and not always come from a place of superhuman confidence or clear direction. Instead, the more we find the little things that bring us direction, happiness and community, the more we create mass ripples of change in society.

In our brand video, we thus focus on understanding voice as a journey - not a destination - and that even our biggest heroes don’t have it all figured out. We want to strip back the misconception of the super cool artist as someone isolated from the  everyday world  and instead showcase the  community and successes of our three acts threaded through our 60.

For Adam Lakti's story, we see him at his neighborhood percussion and lighting shop, at the community music school where he regularly practices and with his friends in his Batucada band. We hear about how Adam’s teacher noticed him playing drums at school and encouraged him to pursue percussion. Our director, Jon E. Price, really captures the mind and energy of Adam as percussionist, as someone who lives and breathes music. In interviews, Adam also talked about discrimination he has faced in Barcelona when speaking in Arabic and the need for more spaces of equality and transcendence to break down pre-determined ideas, which is one of his favorite things about music as a shared language. Adam has just gotten a scholarship to study music full time. 

In Simbiat Eboh Aly's story, we see her at her community choir, directed by the globally touring musician and mentor, Uncle Jo, as well as in her reggae band, where she discovered the bass, even though some people reminded her she should play piano or guitar, because it would be better for her voice. Simbiat is our hero that teaches us no matter how illogical it may seem to others or society, if you find something that gives you a sensation of happiness and unique fit, it is always worth pursuing. For her, music is a place of sanctuary and liberation,where  it’s never too late for anyone to find their smile. This is particularly inspiring as Simbiat has used music as a place to feel she can transcend really tough external conditions she’s had to go through and she is currently working to get a music scholarship to study music full time.