WORKS

In just five days, the campaign reached 813,000 people online and offline.

468,000 actively participated, engaging with the brand while discovering, decoding, and writing their own story.

| In just five days, the campaign reached 813,000 people online and offline. | 468,000 actively participated, engaging with the brand while discovering, decoding, and writing their own story.

D&AD Interactive in book 2010.

Bronze Interactive Ad Fest 2010.

Bronze Digital Ad Fest 2010.

Bronzes Digital Spike 2010.

Merit Integrated One Show 2010.

Merit Website & Microsite One Show 2010.

Business-Driven & Tech Leadership Campaign

The Emperor’s Gold Button.

Role:
Creative Lead for Activation & part of the 360 Team
Market:
China
Objective:
Launch Lee in China by transforming 120 years of Western heritage into a culturally relevant, lived experience in a nation with 5,000 years of its own history.
Key Actions & Strategy:
- Integrated campaign: Reframed Lee’s heritage not as history-telling, but as a participatory journey.
- Campaign launched with bold OOH and social drops: “Only 120 will make it.”
- Multi-channel path unfolded via gallery-style events, pop-up installations, retail stores, mobile clues, and a digital hub.
- Participants unlocked Lee’s milestones through interactive discovery, culminating in a reward: one of 120 jeans with a 24K gold-plated button.
- The gold button symbolised respect — giving consumers ownership of the story rather than imposing brand legacy.
Results & P&L Impact:
- 813,000 reached; 468,000 actively participated in five days.
- Legacy reframed as interaction, building affinity and relevance in a new market.
- Campaign established Lee as more than an imported story — as a brand that listened and co-created with China.
Awards & Recognition:
- D&AD In-Book 2010, Interactive Campaign
- One Show Merit 2010, Website & Microsite; Integrated Branding
- Bronze Interactive, AdFest 2010; Bronze Digital Campaign, Spikes 2010
Technical & Creative Innovation:
Integrated cross-channel design combining physical activations with mobile and digital platforms into a single mystery-led journey.
Legacy & Business Impact:
Redefined how Western heritage brands could enter China — not by projecting legacy, but by creating participatory ownership. Elevated Lee as a lifestyle brand with cultural credibility and reinforced the agency’s leadership in integrated storytelling.
Signature POV:
“Heritage matters only when people can make it their own.”

In China, history is not a point of pride.
It’s a lived truth — 5,000 years deep and counting.

When a Western denim brand entered the market waving its 120-year heritage, the tension was immediate.

Not hostile. Just... hollow.

China didn’t need another legacy. It had its own.
Older. Richer. Undebatable.

And so, trying to parade Lee’s American milestones felt less like honouring the moment…
And more like dressing the emperor in someone else’s suit.

That’s when we stopped pretending.

We saw the danger of parading the Western legacy before a civilisation that’s outlived every empire.
So we did what the fable never did:
We handed the emperor something real.

A gold button. One of 120.
Not a spectacle. But a symbol of respect — and a seat at the table.

To earn it, you didn’t just watch a story.
You had to step into it.

The campaign unfolded like a mystery across the lives of our audience.
It began with bold OOH and social drops —
Lee’s name is front and centre, paired with a glint of gold and a challenge: Only 120 will make it.

From there, the journey stretched across gallery-style events, pop-up installations, mobile clues, physical stores, and a digital hub that tied it all together.
Each moment revealed fragments of Lee’s past, from the world’s first zipper fly to iconic denim worn by rebels, workers, and movie stars.

But this time, it wasn’t about what Lee had done.
It was about what China could now do with it.
Every detail in the campaign was designed to hand over the thread — and let the consumer stitch their moment into the story.

Only those who completed the journey, clue by clue, earned one of the 120 pairs of jeans with the 24K gold-plated button.
Not a sales item. Not a stunt.
A personal milestone — limited, lived, and wholly owned.

In just five days, the campaign reached 813,000 people online and offline.
468,000 actively participated, engaging with the brand while discovering, decoding, and writing their own story.

And the industry took notice. D&AD. One Show. Spikes. AdFest.

Not for nostalgia. But for the way we turned legacy into interaction —
and built a campaign that invited people to live the story, not just watch it.

Lee didn’t walk into China to tell its story.
It walked in and listened.

The Emperor’s Gold Button wasn’t a tribute to the past.
It was a turning point.
A moment when a Western brand stepped back
and let the people define what it means to matter.

Not one campaign story — but 120 personal ones.
Each one earned, not gifted.
Each is a reminder that making history doesn’t start with the brand.
It starts with the people who choose to wear it.

Now, Lee is making history —
not by itself, but together.