Dockers free pants ad: a Super Bowl spot that worked

Maybe people are rushing to stock up on Snickers bars after seeing the catchy TV ad Sunday night, but by one measure the Super Bowl ad that got viewers taking action after the game is the one for Dockers pants.
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The ad incited men to go for a walk in the hills wearing only underwear from the waist down, joining other males in song. Well, that was what the ad showed.

But it actually was designed to lure American males into signing up for a chance to win a free pair of pants. With thousands of $30 dollar Dockers at stake, apparently plenty of men are interested.

As of Monday morning, the phrase "Dockers free pants" was the top-trending search term on the leading search website, Google. That search was closely followed by other Bowl-related searches. People want to rewatch the top-ranked "Betty White" Snickers spot and other ads aired during the game, but only after they try for their free pair of Dockers. (To see a photo gallery of Super Bowl ads, click here.)

The ad for Dockers, made by Levi Strauss & Co., scored low with viewers, according to a USA Today ad meter that tracked the popularity of the Super Bowl ads.

The ad, which featured the vocal refrain "I wear no pants," coincided with another no-pants Bowl ad, a CareerBuilder.com spot centered around a workplace with an unusual definition of "casual Friday."

So who's really wearing the pants these days, at least in the apparel industry? Levi Strauss remains one of the biggest US-based firms in the industry, with $4.4 billion in revenue, according to a Forbes magazine ranking of privately owned firms. That stacks up well against some of the largest apparel companies traded on US stock exchanges. The pants-maker tops underwear specialist Hanes Brands (at $3.9 billion in revenue, according to the Yahoo Finance website), but is a bit behind Ralph Lauren Polo Corp. ($4.9 billion).

All of these are bested in revenue by VF Corp., with $7.2 billion in sales from a broad array of brands that can clothe shoppers from their underwear (Nautica) to their winter coat (North Face) to, yes, their pants (Wrangler).