Music recognition company Shazam has teamed up with Dockers, the casual men’s wear brand from Levi to pioneer an innovative new type of consumer engagement ad to air during the US Superbowl game.

Consumers can use Shazam to “tag” the music in the ad, and thereby gain access to a specially developed product mobile website!

Dockers is running a massive new ad campaign, “Wear the Pants”, to relaunch their line of khaki pants, with TV radio, print, poster, and online components.

The Dockers brand has seen increased competition over the past several years, but the company feels that the current economic situation may represent a good time to relaunch the brand, as khaki is typically a value oriented product.

“There’s an opportunity to introduce the khaki category in a big way to a younger consumer, a 25-to-35-year-old who wants to act, feel and look like a grown-up,” said Jim Calhoun, president for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss in San Francisco. “As they say, a crisis in a recession is a terrible thing to waste,” he added.

A highlight of the campaign will be an innovative TV ad which will start running in February, during the US Superbowl game. This is the first time that Dockers have run an ad during the Superbowl in eight years, indicating how serious they are about this relaunch effort.

The new Dockers TV ad includes a special soundtrack inspired by the song “I Wear no Pants” by The Poxy Boggards. During the ad, as the song is playing, consumers can use Shazam to “tag” the song (ie let Shazam listen and identify it), and then they are given access to a specially created mobile website that has been designed just for this campaign.

In essence, Shazma makes the TV ad “clickable”, just like other digital media. Music can act as an engagement point for consumers to interact with a marketing message. This is similar in concept to using 2-D barcodes or image recognition to make print ads or outdoor ads clickable.

Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam, said “Consumers are increasingly looking to connect with the brands they love on a richer, more emotional level, and our world-first partnership with Dockers is a clear and unique example of how that engagement can be achieved.”

The “Wear the Pants™” campaign and television spot were created by the San Francisco office of Draft/FCB. The integration of Shazam was developed in partnership with Ignition Factory, a creative media specialty unit of media buying agency OMD.