Footfall in Levi's stores rose by 50%. RTG sales in UK stores increased by 19%. Girls besieged stores for information about auditioning for 'Girlfriends'. They queued for up to eight hours to get an audition. Girls were back with a brand they had lost touch with.

The idea of using programme content to promote Levi's RTG as opposed to advertising was the media team's. Levi's TV advertising was continually failing to engage girls who had become the driving force in the denim market. Starcom used its strong relationship with MTV and struck a deal whereby Levi's RTG became an integral part of 'Girlfriends', a programme that talent searches for the hippest pair of girlfriends to become an MTV presenters.

The decision to 'advertise' via programme content was special for a whole host of reasons. First it got over Levi's image problem. In girls' eyes the advertising was far too male. Secondly teenage girls loved the 'Girlfriends' concept. It was the perfect place to tell them about RTG. And while Starcom engineered a pan-European deal for its client, it persuaded MTV to talent search on a country-by-country basis. That meant more exposure for the brand. The talent search culminated in three 30-minute programmes relevant about the whole competition: in effect 90 minutes of RTG advertising.