100th anniversary campaign by Lee Cooper

McCann Erickson has conceptualised a new campaign for Lee Cooper called 'discrimination by design', to mark its 100th anniversary as a global brand.

Lee Cooper as a brand believes 'cool is in.' The print ads show members of the "Lee Cooper Clan" ganging up and punishing an "un-cool, unstylish" person who has been tied to a stake or is on his knees or is tied to a tree, and is about to receive lashings from a clan member.

Ameet Panchal, CEO, Lee Cooper says, "All the campaigns in the denim brands category are the same. We wanted to create a personality for the brand with this campaign without taking away the essence of being a fashion brand."

Akshay Kapnadak, creative director, McCann Erickson says, "If you look at the world, it seems like a politically correct place. But according to the Darwinian theory, man is not supposed to be equal. It is about 'survival of the fittest'. The young people discriminate each other by what kind of music they listen to, what social networking sites they are on and what clothes they wear. They are clannish and they group together to discriminate against people who are not like them."

"Thus we have created Lee Cooper clan which is a clan of 'cool' people. They have a sharp point of view on the world. They discriminate by the colour of people's 'second skin' which is style," he adds.

The creative team includes Prasoon Joshi, Akshay Kapnadak, Prajato Guha Thakurta, Amol Kulkarni, Nilesh Sawmani, Niranjan Kaushik. The photographer is Parag Savla. Brenden Dege is the stylist and Avinash Mahadik is the recapturer.

Lee Cooper is a 100-year-old British brand. Through the years, they have been at the forefront of English fashion and have given the world some of its firsts, like colored denims. Lee Cooper has often dictated fashion. And they have done so not quietly, not in whispers, but loudly, emphatically and without mincing any words or pulling their punches.