As consumers begin readying their fall wardrobes, Gap is vying to spark fashion inspiration by elevating its assortment of closet staples to nod to today’s consumer and transform what was into what’s.
The retailer today (Aug. 29) unveiled its fall collection, an assortment of its latest and most-loved styles — called its “icon” products — that were designed using inspiration from the brand’s style archives while being modernized to match current fashion trends. To showcase the gathering, Gap also launched its fall 2023 campaign, an integrated effort meant to reenvision nostalgic ads from the retailer’s past.
While themes of nostalgia have broadly turn out to be a perennially popular marketing tactic, for Gap, a deep dive into memorable moments of its past was intentional not only to tell its latest effort, but those yet to return because the brand strategizes a sharpened creative strategy. The latest campaign also arrives during a difficult period for business defined by declining sales.
“With any strong, iconic brand like Gap, you wish to take a take a look at your history and heritage,” said Erika Everett, head of selling for Gap. “One of the important thing things we did in interested by the strategy and the creative formula for going forward is, when this brand has been at our greatest, what are form of the core tenets of that?”
Among long-winning principles that Gap plans to hold forward are creativity, style and the celebration of humanity, a three-piece formula that Everett noted has come to define the brand. The latest campaign will span out-of-home (OOH), including digital OOH and billboards in New York and Los Angeles, digital media and Gap’s brand channels. The retailer can also be partnering with content creators to bolster its efforts on platforms like TikTok.
Creative materials for Gap’s fall campaign are grounded in partnerships with eight individuals, dubbed “artistic originals,” across the art, music, fashion, activism and film sectors in an effort to tap into key consumer touch points while also promoting originality and individuality, two values that the retailer has often embedded into its marketing.
“Gap has all the time been a brand that played a role in culture through the lens of entertainment,” Everett said. “That might be through music, through fashion — our customers are looking for inspiration.”
Included within the forged is Helena Christensen, a clothing designer and former model credited with helping shape the modeling industry within the ‘90s, Lionel Boyce, an actor known for his role in “The Bear,” and Coco Pink Princess, a 12-year-old influencer and fashion icon in Tokyo. Others include award-winning chef Sophia Roe; stylist and model Veneda Carter and her daughter; designer Sean Wotherspoon and his two children; actress Medalion Rahimi (“NCIS: Los Angeles”) and inventive entrepreneur Stella Simona.
The forged members are featured in a 30-second campaign spot that puts the brand’s latest collection center stage, highlighting items like its denim jackets, jeans, button-down shirts, cargo styles and more through an “emotional and vibrant color story,” per release details. The campaign’s forged members also notably span a big selection of ages to assist Gap broaden its reach. The spot was directed by Brendan Clark and videoed by Ben Carey, with photography by Bjorn Looss. Looks for the gathering were styled by London-based fashion stylist Caroline Newell.
The latest effort from Gap comes at a tough time for business, with year-over-year net sales falling 14% to $755 million within the second quarter. The retailer’s latest CEO Richard Dixon last week presented company earnings, noting that though he sees signs of life across Gap’s portfolio of brands, which also includes Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta, work still must be done to bring them back in control.
Accordingly, while Gap’s latest campaign may in a lot of the way be harking back to past efforts, Everett says the trouble is communicated through a latest lens, including through a more strategic focus and elevated creative fueled by a partnership with a latest creative agency, Invisible Dynamics. The fall effort marks the primary campaign from the pair, though they’ve been working together for a few months to assist Gap with brand expression.
“Part of what we’re doing with this campaign is saying, ‘Hey, we’re taking a step forward from a creative standpoint,’” Everett said. “And it should feel familiar — we would like all the campaigns we do going forward to feel iconic and incredible.”
Other more intricate details of Gap’s latest campaign could help drive home the private values it’s vying to speak. For example, Gap’s creative and styling teams took note of what forged members were wearing after they arrived on set to more closely style them with clothes they might actually wear.
Additionally, designer Wotherspoon is, along with a forged member, also a latest vintage curator for the brand, having most recently curated a collection this summer that was well-received by consumers, Everett said, with one other collaboration on the way in which. In creative materials, Wotherspoon is featured alongside his children.
Beyond the fall season, Gap’s latest effort is representative of its ongoing goal to breathe latest life into its loved items, an effort that can proceed to be shaped using its reaffirmed brand formula — highlighting creativity, style and humanity — to assist make sure the retailer continues to matter, Everett said.
“I believe it’s about just taking that core of who you might be and constructing on that story and form of writing the following chapter of what really made this brand so iconic, and why people love this brand a lot, because I do think we’re a brand that folks love,” Everett said.
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