True Blue: How Levi's remains an American original with contemporary cachet

Summary

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The Speed of Culture Podcast

True Blue: How Levi's Remains an American Original with Contemporary Cachet

Host: Matt Britton (Founder & CEO, Suzy)
Guest: Kenny Mitchell (Global Chief Marketing Officer, Levi Strauss & Co.)
Date: December 2, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode explores how Levi’s—an enduring American icon—continues to evolve and stay at the center of culture while honoring its 170-year heritage. Kenny Mitchell, Levi’s Global CMO, delves into the strategies that balance legacy and innovation, from celebrity collaborations and subculture engagement to leveraging AI and data for consumer connection. The discussion also touches on Mitchell’s leadership philosophy, key lessons from his career, and the mindset behind “the standard is the standard” mantra.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Balancing Heritage with Cultural Relevance

• Levi’s Versatility:
  Mitchell describes Levi’s as an “unofficial uniform for people that are driving progress and game changers, move makers, people that are driving their world forward” [00:49, 02:28].
  • Quote: “We pay homage to our past and our history... while look towards the future and showcase…how the brand is incredibly relevant right now for consumers around the world.” – Kenny Mitchell [02:28]
• Elasticity and Democracy:
  The brand’s flexibility is highlighted; Levi’s is seen on Fashion Week runways, in partnerships with Nike, and with deep roots in both high fashion and blue-collar/workwear communities [03:20–04:28].

2. Staying at the Center of Culture: Partnerships & Subcultures

• Celebrity Collaborations:
  Iconic partnerships (Beyoncé, Shabuzzi, Nike) put Levi’s in the cultural foreground. These moves are intentional, aimed at associating Levi’s with “the center of culture” [05:19].
  • Quote: “It’s just as likely you’ll find us partnering with Colors…or the Boiler Room…as it is to see us with Beyoncé. And it makes sense because we’re a brand that has that type of elasticity.” – Kenny Mitchell [06:18]
• Creator Economy:
  Levi’s keeps a foot in both traditional celebrity influence and modern creator-driven subcultures, targeting both mass and niche audiences [05:19–07:05].

Importance of Authenticity in Partnerships

• Conviction in Big Bets:
  When evaluating partnerships like Beyoncé’s, Levi’s seeks strong alignment with business strategy and authentic brand-fan connections.
  • Business goals include staying centered in culture, focusing on D2C, winning with women, and amplifying the global brand [07:19–09:17].
  • Authentic connections: “Levi’s and Beyoncé have been connected in some way for decades… So you get those two ingredients and that gives you some good confidence that there could be a successful marriage.” – Kenny Mitchell [09:10]

3. Consumer Trends & the Rapid Pace of Change

• Multiple Style Trends at Once:
  Mitchell notes how the acceleration of trend cycles through digital platforms means “your connection to style... you just have more access to it and more frequent access to it. And culture moves more quickly now than it ever has” [10:04].
  • Baggy, skinny, boot-cut, bell-bottoms, cropped—all co-exist, creating both opportunity and focus challenges [10:49].
• Brand Resilience:
  Levi’s legacy and trust have helped it weather cycles, including the pandemic. Consumers “gravitate to brands that they trust and brands that deliver quality and brands that kind of represent them in their identity” [11:40].

4. Shifting Norms in Work and Self-Expression

• Casualization of the Workplace:
  Post-pandemic return to work is more casual, expanding Levi’s relevance in officewear and everyday style [13:13].
  • Quote: “It’s been a great opportunity for the Levi’s team to help to be a part of that.” – Kenny Mitchell [13:22]

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5. Storytelling in the Digital Age

• Essentials of Brand Storytelling:
  Despite changes in media, storytelling’s “importance and power” remain as a means to “build brand love, get attention... and drive commerce” [14:01].
• Two Key Frameworks:
  • Unexpected & Highly Relevant: Levi’s seeks ideas that are “unexpected and highly relevant” for their audience (e.g., Martha Stewart & Snoop partnership as an archetype) [15:03].
  • CASE (Creative, Authentic, Strategic, Emotional):
    • Creative: Interesting, insightful, and novel
    • Authentic: True to both brand and consumer
    • Strategic: Directly addresses the business objective
    • Emotional: Generates real feelings (inspiration, aspiration, joy)
    • Quote: “Creativity without a strategy is art…and not in the business of making art…The last is emotion. It has to make you feel something.” – Kenny Mitchell [16:04]

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6. Data, D2C, and the Role of AI

• Data-Driven Marketing:
  Levi’s leverages D2C data for deeper insights—CRM, loyalty, transaction analytics—to become more efficient and effective [18:13–18:36]:
  • AI is deployed to enhance personalization, targeting, content development, automation, and workstream efficiency.
  • Example: Personalized CRM messaging at scale, powered by AI, has improved business impact [18:36–20:25].
• Future of Personalization:
  Gen Z and Gen Alpha will “expect that brands talk to them as an audience of one” due to hyper-personalization capabilities [20:25–21:57].

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7. Leadership & Career Lessons

• Teamwork Mindset:
  Mitchell’s background as a point guard infuses his leadership—focus on making others better, preparation, hard work, being both a leader and a follower, embracing diversity [22:45–25:41].
  • Quote: “Good teammates…put in the effort first and foremost…selfless, focused on the core goal, but also have, like, a bit of selfishness…want to feel that fulfillment.” – Kenny Mitchell [24:25]
• Curiosity & Authenticity:
  Values team members “constantly curious and trying to learn,” combined with honesty and passion [24:47].

8. Zigging While Others Zag

• Career Decisions:
  Mitchell attributes growth to taking calculated risks (e.g., pioneering Gatorade’s expansion into action sports), learning from new and uncomfortable arenas [26:28–30:17].
  • Quote: “There have been other pivots I’ve made in my career…that almost in some ways represented a zig or a different approach…And that has actually paid off incredibly well for me.” – Kenny Mitchell [29:20]

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9. Personal Mantra: “The Standard is the Standard”

• Origin & Application:
  Mitchell adopts Mike Tomlin’s Pittsburgh Steelers mantra for life and business:
  • Quote: “Regardless of circumstances, the standard is the standard…We have to live up to that standard. We have to live up to that legacy. So we can’t let good enough be the answer.” – Kenny Mitchell [31:23, 33:32]
• Aspirational Leadership:
  He expects himself and his team to always strive for work that measures up to the heritage of iconic brands [33:49].

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Brand Elasticity:
  “It’s a brand that’s incredibly elastic and it’s a fun thing from a marketer’s perspective.” – Kenny Mitchell [04:28]
• On Storytelling:
  “Creativity without a strategy is art, and not in the business of making art.” – Kenny Mitchell [16:03]
• On Personalization:
  “The expectation is that things will be more and more personalized…that will become kind of the commonplace expectation.” – Kenny Mitchell [21:21]
• On Career Advice:
  “I zigged while others zagged.” – Kenny Mitchell [26:28]
• On Leadership:
  “Good teammates put in the effort first and foremost…also have this mindset connected to this common good.” – Kenny Mitchell [24:25]
• Mantra:
  “The standard is the standard.” – Kenny Mitchell [31:23, 33:32]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Brand Heritage vs. Modernity: [02:28–04:28]
• Celebrity and Subculture Strategies: [05:19–07:05]
• The Beyoncé Partnership: [07:19–09:31]
• Emerging Style Trends & Consumer Shifts: [09:51–11:19]
• Workplace Casualization: [13:13–13:30]
• Brand Storytelling Framework: [14:01–17:04]
• AI and Personalization in Marketing: [18:13–21:57]
• Teaming and Leadership Lessons: [22:45–26:28]
• Career “Zigging” Philosophy: [26:28–30:17]
• Personal Mantra, “The Standard is the Standard”: [31:23–33:49]

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Tone & Language

The episode balances warm, conversational storytelling with optimistic leadership insights. Mitchell’s tone is motivational, honest, and rooted in both data-driven reasoning and creative, cultural intuition.

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“We have to live up to that standard. We have to live up to that legacy. So we can’t let good enough be the answer…We should be at all times aspiring to do the best work of our careers.”
— Kenny Mitchell [33:32]

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This summary captures the episode’s rich insights, notable moments, and actionable wisdom for anyone interested in brand leadership, consumer culture, and the evolving role of marketers in a fast-moving world.

Transcript

[Kenny Mitchell]

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[Kenny Mitchell]

And where we kind of aligned on was this idea that Levi's as a brand has, if you look at it across history, has always been and continues to be kind of this uniform, this unofficial uniform for people that are driving progress and are game changers, that are move makers, people that are driving their world forward. And you've seen that from generations before and you see that in present time.

[Matt Britton]

To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move at an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Britton, founder and CEO of Suzy. Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry, why it matters now, and how you can keep up. Welcome to the Speed of Culture. Up. Today on the Speed of Culture podcast, we're thrilled to be joined by Kenny Mitchell, the Global Chief Marketing Officer at Levi Strauss and Company. Under his leadership, Levi's has launched bold collaborations with cultural icons like Beyonce, Shabuzzi and Nike, redefining what it means to be both a heritage brand and a cultural trailblazer. Kenny, so great to see you.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Matt. I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

[Matt Britton]

Absolutely. Really looking forward to this. One question that came up constantly as I was prepping for today's chat is Levi's is such an iconic brand in American history and you are in the position where obviously you need to hold on to that heritage and trust and brand equity pillars at the same time, move the brand forward for tomorrow's generation of customers.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Tomorrow.

[Matt Britton]

Talk to me about balancing that as a CMO and stewarding this brand forward.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Amazing. So that's a great place to start. Matt, I'll say that it's a real privilege to have the opportunity to work on such an iconic brand that has an incredible rich heritage, but also is relevant now, both from a pop culture and a subculture perspective. So one of the things that's been really energizing for me as I've come on board here at Levi's is we started the early journey of kind of establishing the brand's point of view, perspective. As we're thinking about the next chapter and where we kind of aligned on was this idea that Levi's as a brand has, if you look at it across history, has always been and continues to be kind of this uniform, this unofficial uniform for people that are driving progress and are game changers, that are move makers, people that are driving their world forward. And you've seen that from generations before and you see that in present time. So we've kind of landed on that point of view or perspective as a bit of a sharp point. And what it allows us is it actually allows us to pay homage to our past and our history and it's very, very unique to our brand. While look towards the future and showcase and highlight the ways that the brand is incredibly relevant right now for consumers around the world. So it's a big time privilege. And one of the things, Matt, that is particularly unique about the brand is that it is remarkably elastic. It's a highly, highly democratic brand. So if you were at Fashion Week this year and you would see Levi's with Sakai going down the Runway, you could also, you know, so here we are in partnership with one of the leading brands from a fashion perspective. You also see us connected to deep subcultures and working with our partners with Nike as a launch of our Air Max 95.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah. It's also could be looked as a blue collar brand too.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Absolutely. You can look at us from a workwear perspective, from a western perspective. It's a brand that's incredibly elastic and it's a fun thing from a marketer's perspective.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, for sure. I know. Recently and I mentioned at the outset, Levi's has partnered with some major celebrities. And in the world where people are questioning like what makes a celebrity in the world of the creator economy, and you have people who are unrecognized to most people that have 100 million subscribers on YouTube. So we're in this sort of weird gray area, but yet there's some celebrities like Beyonce that kind of stand the test of time and is actually still a real Hollywood a list celebrity, even in this day and age. Talk to me about your strategy with working with celebrities, why it's still important for a brand like Levi's and where the creator economy fits in.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Absolutely. So I'd say at a high level, Matt, one of our core strategies is to ensure that Levi stays at the center of culture. And we look to do that in a myriad of ways because the brand is so elastic and so democratic. So on one hand, we show up very often adjacent to, connected with, and outfitting some of the biggest icons in the world. So Beyonce is a great example of that. The work that we've done with Shabuzzi is actually a really good example of that. And then at the same time, we show up very meaningfully in subcultures, as I've mentioned. And subcultures can come in the form of working with creators and influencers that have deep followings with their particular vein, or showing up in areas that are relevant for our brand, but actually have a deep kind of cultural connection. So when we show up with our intent to be in the center of culture, we typically do it through the prism of fashion, we do it through the prism of music, we'll do it through the prism of sports, and we'll do it broadly through the prism of, I'd say, like arts and culture. As Levi's is often considered this canvas for self expression. So in those veins, Matt, those are areas where we focus on going deep into subculture. So it's just as likely you'll find us partnering with Colors, a music platform for discovering up and coming artists, or the boiler room, which is. It's a bit of a, if, you know, you know, platform for people that are into DJs and house parties and music. And that's an example of some of the elasticity of the brand where we could show up with a Beyonce and also be in the boiler room. And it makes sense because we're a brand that has that type of elasticity.

[Matt Britton]

Obviously, Beyonce is a huge investment both for the brand and the capital that, you know, is required to deploy such a celebrity partnership. Like, how do you gain conviction that this is right for our brand? I know it's going to work. I'm willing to make a big bet.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Yeah. So I'd say when we think about conviction behind, like, big ideas and big bets, I think there's two pieces that we think really deeply about. One is we want to make sure that it is kind of connected to our business strategy. And the second is we want to make sure that there's this authenticity and this relevance connected to the program, to the partnership, and the way that we go to market. So if I were to use the Reimagine campaign as an example, our business strategy, they're pretty clear. One is around being in the center of culture. So this definitely checks that Box Another is around being a D2C first brand. So thinking about our direct to consumer business, our stores and our E comm channels. So so much of what we did was really coordinate pretty meaningful and impactful commercial moments connected to the partnership to help drive that traffic, to help drive increased rate of sale around items that were important. Connected to that strategy is winning with women, and this obviously squarely falls in that direction. And a third component of it is around like literally amplify our global brand and global ip. And there are very few partners that have such amazing global relevance than what we did with Beyonce. So from a business strategy perspective, check, check, check. And then when you think about an authenticity and relevance perspective, Levi's and Beyonce have had been connected in some way for decades. She was a part of a campaign with Destiny's child back in 2000 and 2001 with the brand with our super loose product at the time and had a bit of a relationship relationship through some of our entertainment marketing team with some folks on her side from a styling perspective. So it was not a surprise that she had actually selected Levi's shorts to wear during her homecoming film and her performance at Coachella. So there's been a bit of an authentic connection and brand fandom that were there. So you get those two ingredients and that gives you some good confidence that there could be a successful marriage.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, it's fascinating. So let's talk a little bit about the consumer. Obviously, the consumer and their tastes and behaviors are changing, it seems like faster than ever before. What are the biggest shifts with the consumers and some emerging trends that you have your eye on heading into 2026 that you think are relevant to Levi's, Penn's business.

[Kenny Mitchell]

That's a great question. I'd say that one of the things that's been really interesting for our category is the speed by which trends from a style perspective are what's driving that.

[Matt Britton]

Kenny, in your opinion?

[Kenny Mitchell]

I think part of it is there are just so many platforms and ways that people are inspired and get and seek inspiration that your connection to style, to trends, to what may be happening in culture that may be interesting to you, you just have more access to it and more frequent access to it. And culture moves more quickly now than it ever has. So you bring those things together and you'll have. We talk often, particularly when we're looking at some of our inn. You got the baggy trend that's happening in major ways, but you also have the skinny trend that's beginning to come back.

[Matt Britton]

So I don't Know which one's more in right now, baggy or skinny? I've seen both of them. And bell bottoms, I know at one point had a flash.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Exactly. You got your boot cut fit, you got your baggage, you got your bell bottoms, you got cropped shirts and tops happening. But you also have things that are, like, very loose and flowing. So I think it actually, on one hand, creates a tremendous opportunity because there's just kind of many fertile options and opportunities from a fan perspective. At the same time, it challenges your ability to kind of, like, focus behind big bets that you think are going to be successful in the marketplace.

[Matt Britton]

Does Levi's or. I know this precedes your time at Levi's. You were at Snap during the pandemic, which we could talk about separately. But does Levi's business get hurt during a pandemic when everyone's home and everyone's buying Athleisure? Because there was that huge boom of Athleisure brands, which I think has kind of cooled off a little bit. Is your business susceptible to things like that?

[Kenny Mitchell]

Well, I'd say first and foremost, it's a brand that's been around for 170 years, so it has seen many, many cycles and is a business that has been able to sustain itself and stick around and be successful. But to your point, before I arrived here, the experience with the pandemic, my understanding of it, looking at the data, is that like many apparel businesses and retail businesses, as folks out of the Pandemic, you have, like, a pretty big spike in consumption and activity that Levi's, like many other brands and businesses, experience. And I'd say the larger point from a Levi's perspective is that when consumers are feeling times of uncertainty or times of challenge, they tend to gravitate to brands that they trust and brands that deliver quality and brands that kind of represent them in their identity. And Levi's has been uniquely positioned to be able to get through those cycles, to get through challenging environments because of the power of the brand.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, I think another broader shift, at least that I'm seeing, is at least in the workplace. And, of course, some businesses are still hybrid, but as people fully return to office, it just seems to be much more of a casual wardrobe approach, where I think suits and ties seem to be going away, at least from this focus group of one. And I would imagine as people feel more comfortable wearing jeans into work, then there's more occasions for people to purchase your products.

[Kenny Mitchell]

I think you're absolutely right. I think there's a casualization of the workplace. That's happening globally, frankly, and that just offers more options for our consumers to figure out how they express themselves and how they show up. And it's been a great opportunity for the Levi's team to help to be a part of that.

[Matt Britton]

So, of course, your business has been around for 170 years, and one thing that has definitely changed is the way in which you garner eyeballs and attention. And right now that is done over the mobile device and in social media and in places like TikTok and as you well know, and that comes down to stories and telling stories. So as a cmo, what is your approach to storytelling? From taking the assets that is the brand and your products and some of these partnerships and bringing them to life through digestible stories to be shared where your consumer is?

[Kenny Mitchell]

That's a wonderful question. And I think one of the things that is sometimes a bit of a misnomer is the importance and the power of storytelling. Regardless of how folks are consuming or getting exposed to storytelling, it still remains incredibly powerful as a vehicle to build brand love, to get attention for your products and your services, to drive that commerce for your business. And when I think about our approach to storytelling, I think of it kind of through two veins. Like, one is if you had a four quadrant box of things with the axes being relevant and irrelevant and things being expected and unexpected, you want to be in the quadrant of unexpected and highly relevant that ends up being a part of you think about some of the best storytelling that you've seen. Some of the brands that have been.

[Matt Britton]

Really sticky like Martha Stewart and Snoop, comes to mind as like a partnership that no one would expect. And that's relevant but super unexpected.

[Kenny Mitchell]

That's right. So you want to be in that quadrant. So that to me is like one of the first things that you need to think about is is it really aligned with our brand? Is it really aligned our consumer? And also is it like unexpected, is it something that's able to catch and garner attention? The other thing I think about is I personally use a bit of a framework, call it case. So C, A, S, E. I need to trademark it at some point, but it's a little bit of a framework that I use that's actually specific to storytelling. And it stands for four things. So it stands for creative, authentic, strategic and emotional. So as you're looking at storytelling, first thing is like, it has to be interesting, has to be creative. You have to take a bit of a novel way in. And maybe it's driven by insight, maybe it's driven by what's happening culturally, maybe it's driven by your specific point of view, but you got to find a creative way in to be interesting. Second is you want to be authentic, authentic to the brand. So something that is actually really true for you, but also authentic to your fans or your consumer base. So something that really connects well with them. The third is strategic. And I like to say that creativity without a strategy is already and not in the business of making art. It's actually needs to be answering the brief. It needs to be highly strategic on what it is that you're trying to accomplish. And then the last is emotion. It has to make you feel something. So that's something that you feel. It could be inspiration, it could be aspiration, it could be joy, but it has to make you feel something. So if you have storytelling that is coming from a unique point of view or a creative perspective that is authentic to your brand and to your consumer, that is on strategy in terms of of what you're intending to deliver and it makes you feel something, that is a good set of ingredients for strong storytelling. And Matt, to me, that is regardless of the platform. So whether you're talking about digital and native storytelling, whether you're talking about out of home or television, those components remain very true. And the brands that are doing that well are winning.

[Matt Britton]

We'll be right back with the Speed of Culture after a few words from our sponsors.

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[Kenny Mitchell]

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[Matt Britton]

You had mentioned earlier that your D2C business allows you to harness a ton of consumer data and along with it, consumer insights. How are you leveraging data as part of your overall role as cmo? And where does AI play into both how you leverage data and how you bring these stories to Life here in 2025, where it's a buzzword, obviously can't escape.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Absolutely. You and I should put AI after our names. We probably could go out and raise some money. So we're in a pretty privileged position to have a decent amount of data and understanding of our consumers and of our fans, whether it be through transactions that happen across the business, whether it be through our loyalty program and how we leverage those insights for our CRM. And I think at the highest level, our data allows us to be more efficient and more effective with our marketing efforts and our spend at the highest level. And when you think of things like AI, we've been leveraging AI as a tool to help us with things like personalization, help us with things like targeting, help us with things like content development and personalization kind of connected to that, helping with things like analysis and how we think about leveraging our insights to help drive action, to help us frankly automate some things that highly repeatable and maybe of high volume, but don't necessarily always need a human hand to guide. So we think about automation and enhancement of work streams and also helping to drive some of the efficiency and effectiveness of our efforts and our spend as how we're using data and AI specifically in some of our working efforts. One example I often like to talk about, which is one of my favorites, is we're basically within our CRM we are being able to do, I'd say, like personalization at scale with a lot of our messaging outreach. And it's all powered by AI. So whether it be the messaging, the copy, the imagery, the targeting, like so much of that is being leveraged through AI and we're seeing such improvements in impact across the business.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, I'm doing a lot of work on hyper personalization as well. And it's interesting because it's something that we've been talking about in the marketing and advertising industry for so long, but I believe it wasn't till now where we can truly pay it off, where if you have a database of customer records and you know, information about that customer, you can use large language models to hyper personalize messaging and deliver it to an individual based upon, if they have a family, where they live, the types of styles that they usually gravitate towards and really speak to them. And I think I often get asked like, what is the difference between say Gen Z and Gen Alpha, like this new generation, I think this new generation is going to expect that brands talk to them as an audience of one. And if you look at sort of the trajectory of demographics wasn't too long ago we were talking about like the 18 to 49 demographic, and now it's the demographic of Kenny Mitchell or Matt Britton. And I think that's fascinating to think about as a marketer.

[Kenny Mitchell]

I think you're absolutely right. I think that the tools are available for us to be more and more personal. I think the expectation is that things will be more and more personalized. If you are a social media user, you don't even realize the level of personalization that's happening behind algorithm connected to the content that you're receiving. And I think that whether that is on social media, whether that is on the streaming programming that you are exposed to, and whether that's connected to messages you might see from a marketing perspective or, you know, E Com experiences, I think that, to your point, will become kind of the commonplace expectation.

[Matt Britton]

Absolutely. So I want to shift gears a little bit and talk about you and your career journey. I mean, just looking at your LinkedIn and the places that you've served, it's like a dream. Same career roadmap, spending a lot of time at Gatorade and Obvious and NASCAR and doing a lot on the sports side and then going deep into culture of places like McDonald's and being at Snap and leading its brand during the heyday of Snap and is obviously still a great company and serving on multiple boards. When you look back at your career, I just have a couple of questions for you. First and foremost, being like, what makes a great teammate? Like, what has stood the test of time as things have changed, that you look at somebody and you're like, that is a great teammate, somebody that I would want to work for me or want to work for them. And things that you really find valuable, allowing you to kind of reach your ultimate potential as a professional.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Oh, man, that's a heck of a question. I really like it and it really resonates with me because I am a former team sport athlete and it's a big part of my identity, a big part of how I see the world and a big part of how I show up. So I'm a former point guard and point guards are often, you know, like the coach on the floor. Point guard is part of your job is to make sure you, based on the talent on the team, put people in their best positions.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, make everyone around them better.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Yeah, make everyone around you better.

[Matt Britton]

Who's your favorite point guard of all time, Kenny?

[Kenny Mitchell]

Isaiah Thomas.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, I love Isaiah.

[Kenny Mitchell]

That was my favorite point guard. It aged myself A little bit.

[Matt Britton]

I love Isaiah growing up, too. You're not aging me at all.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Yeah, when I played in high school and college, I wore number 11 like he was my idol. But one of the things about being participating in team sports is there's so many, like, valuable lessons that come with it. The notion of this preparation and practice and hard work and training and how you see outcomes on the court or on the field, connected to that. Sometimes you are the leader, sometimes you are a follower or a team member, making sure that you know and understand and digest, like the game plan and the strategy and can actually go out and execute it. And also learning to deal with success, learning to deal with failure, and learning to deal with people that are not like you and working towards a common goal. So there's a bit of me, to answer your question question directly, that looks for attributes that I'm familiar with in terms of people that are good teammates. Good teammates. They put in the effort first and foremost. They are so willing to roll up their sleeves and kind of apply their skill in whatever way possible. They're often selfless, so focused on the core goal, but also have, like, a bit of selfishness when it comes to leveraging their talent and their skill set and get to the best of their ability. You want to feel that fulfillment. You want to feel like you are really contributing, but you also have this mindset connected to this common good and trying to get through it. I place personally a tremendous amount of value on, I'd say, like, authenticity, honesty, people that are like forthright people that you build passionate relationships so that you actually can go through hard times together. And I put a lot of value behind. I want someone that is constantly curious and trying to learn, because whether it be in sport and you're trying to perfect the skill or in business and how quickly the world evolves, the industry evolves, the marketplace evolves. You just got to have that natural curiosity and hopefully a desire to be great is a part of it. But that curiosity, which is critically important. So I'd say, Matt, broadly speaking, I tend to think the principles connected to sports, to being a. A good team member, to some of the attributes that lead to successful, like, athletic careers, are very, very applicable, 100%.

[Matt Britton]

I make those analogies all the time between things that happen on the court or on the field and what happens in the boardroom. I mean, there's so many correlations. And it is ultimately about trust and teamwork and leadership and all those things that make you win. And obviously that and learning from the losses and all those things. So speaking about learning from just those who have achieved a lot, when I look at your career and when I look look at everything you've achieved, obviously you wouldn't have been able to do this and accomplish what you have without making some smart decisions along the way. So my final question for you before we wrap is, as you look back on your career journey, what are some of the things that you think you've done right, whether it's decisions you've made or areas that you've leaned into that have put you in a position where you are today?

[Kenny Mitchell]

That's a great question as well. So I'd probably say two kind of core principles connected to some of the things that I feel like I've done right. The first principle is I feel like in many cases in my career I zigged while others zagged. I'd say the second is I got some really good advice early in my career about like really kicking ass at the current job that I'm in and how that actually can help drive success.

[Matt Britton]

In the future versus like always looking around the corner to what's next.

[Kenny Mitchell]

That's right. So the whole zig, while other zag point that give is one of the better examples of it. When I was kind of mid career on the Gatorade business and I had a new CMO who had come on board, Sarah Rob o', Hagan, who I love and is a friend and mentor of mine, and she had come from Nike and she had a bit of a vision for the Gatorade brand that she was. They had this idea around like democratizing sports and kind of broadening Gatorade's kind of its surface area core stick and ball sports. It's like if you probably brought in a little bit from the Nike, if you have a body, you're an athlete kind of mentality. So she had kind of challenged the business. So, like to think a little bit more broadly and where's the next kind of frontier Gatorade should be thinking about? And I had an opportunity to kind of tackle that project and ended up focusing on action sports, interestingly enough. So skateboarding, bmx, snowboarding, et cetera, as kind of a really interesting frontier for Gatorade to play. It made a lot of sense because physiologically kids are athletes definitely are active a ton. They're competitive in many ways. But it's also a bit of a lifestyle and culture as well, which you want to be careful about how you bring a brand new into that space. So so many of my colleagues and peers kind of came to Gatorade because of the connection to the footballs of the world, the basketballs of the world, the baseballs of the world, et cetera. And I'm like, actually, this new space is really interesting and it was a bit of a zig while others zag kind of like moving into a different kind of unknown frontier, frankly, for a brand that's kind of known very well in the stick and ball space and moving into a space that I personally was not familiar with. I'm a former, as I said, college basketball player, so I wasn't a skateboarder or snowboarder myself, but really kind of ingrained myself in partnership with others into the culture, into the mindset, into the sport, the space, the whole deal. And it ended up being a very successful program launch, many year kind of campaign and initiative that I think literally colleagues of mine saw it differently, like, oh, that felt like a little risky or a little bit off the agenda. And I was like, no, this actually is really interesting. So there have been other pivots I've made in my career. You mentioned I worked at NASCAR for a bit with some really fine folks there. Those are things that almost in some ways represented a zig or a different approach. Right. Going outside your comfort zone exactly where others were zagged. And that has actually paid off incredibly well for me. I can look back at some of these decisions and experience I've had that paid off in the long run. When I go to snap and realize that some of the things I was asked to do and some of the experience I had there were actually relevant to some of the work I did when I was at nascar. Just as an example, and when I come to Levi's, which was an amazing iconic brand, I'm able to marry some of the great work I did on the Gatorade business with some of the learning and insights I had from working deeply in tech and social media from a platform perspective to help take an iconic brand and also make sure we're bringing it forward in a modern way as a marketer. So look, that kind of zig why you zag kind of choices and decisions. I didn't even have the foresight to know that they would, but they've kind of paid off.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, you never know it at the time. Right. And it all connects, you know, everything you were talking about in terms of being a good teammate and also kicking ass in your job you're in and just having your head down. And over time it kind of all comes together. I do think that a lot of people right now see everyone else, quote, unquote, killing it on Instagram and not having patience to go through the journey that you or I have gone through. And there's really no way around it. Despite what you might think are quick shortcuts to success, it takes a lot of time and a lot of learning and ups and downs to get there.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Yeah, you've got to get those battle scars. Like, you kind of have to walk that walk in order to kind of confidently go into those next things and do it on the foundation of experience and of strength and have a little bit of that conviction that you mentioned earlier behind certain programs. And some of that is just built on those critical experiences and some of those training choices.

[Matt Britton]

So to wrap it here, we always ask our guests, as a final question, if there's a saying or mantra. I have a feeling that you have many, being a former athlete and obviously someone who is a student of culture. But what comes to mind for you is a saying or mantra that you think helps best encapsulate your career journey so far.

[Kenny Mitchell]

So the saying or mantra that may help encapsulate my career journey the most is this quote from Mike Thomas, who's a football coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And he had this quote. The standard is the standard and the story behind it, at least where it got on my radar was in the 20092010 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. They end up winning the super bowl that year, and they're having a pretty successful season as they're going along, despite the fact that they're experiencing injuries to key players. So, like their defensive captain, Troy Palomalo, he was injured, in, out for a bit. Their tight end, Heath Miller, he was injured and out for a bit. Even their quarterback, Ben Roethlisberg, was injured and out for some time. Despite that, the team kept on experiencing success, particularly during the regular season. So they're at a Monday Night Football game, they interview Coach Tomlin, and it's like, what's been the key to your success? And his answer was that with the Pittsburgh Steelers, they have a standard, standard of excellence in terms of. Of how they prepare, how they train, how they have the attention to execution, and how they kind of rely on each other to go out and perform. And regardless of the individual, obviously very talented individuals. But there's a standard of excellence and expectation for the Pittsburgh Steelers for that specific position, whether it's defense, quarterback, running back, et cetera, and regardless of circumstances like the standard is the standard. And for me, the way that I'VE kind of translated that into the work that I've had the privilege to do is I've had the privilege to work on really iconic brands and businesses and many of which have an incredible standard in terms of their brand, their brand heritage, their brand history, the storytelling connected to it. And myself and my team, we have to live up to that standard. We have to live up to that legacy. So we can't let good enough be.

[Matt Britton]

The answer or lean to excuses, which I think is so easy to do.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Yeah, we have a standard to live up to. I mean, when I was in graduate school, I studied case studies on Levi's and some of its iconic storytelling from the 80s and from the 90s. And so that's the history and foundation that we are kind of responsible for.

[Matt Britton]

Moving forward and stewarding.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So if that's the case, like, the standard is the standard and we should be at all times aspiring to do the best work of our careers, particularly on the iconic brands that they've had a privilege to work on. And I've definitely held that as a mantra and a truism. And anyone who's worked on my team, if you were to ask him kind of one of the lessons from Kenny or one of the principles that he's had all of us aspire to, that's going to be the one.

[Matt Britton]

I love that. Well, it's clear you set a high standard for yourself, your brand, your career. You've also set a high standard for podcast episodes. I think this was fantastic one and I can't wait for our audience to hear it. So thank you so much, Kenny, for joining today. It's been a fantastic chat and look forward to seeing your continued success with the Levi.

[Kenny Mitchell]

Well, thank you. Really enjoyed the conversation. Matt, thanks so much.

[Matt Britton]

Likewise, on behalf of Susie and IWA team, thanks again to the great Kenny Mitchell, the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Levi Strauss and company, for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe, rate and review the Speed of Culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time. See you soon, everyone. Bye bye. The Speed of Culture is brought to you by Susie as part of the Ad Week Podcast Network and AAST Creator Network. You can listen subscribe to all Adweek's podcast by visiting Adweek.com podcast. To find out more about Suzy, head to Suzy.com and make sure to search for the Speed of Culture in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere else podcasts are found, click follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Suzy thanks for listening.

[Kenny Mitchell]

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