Gap Emphasizes Iconic Casual-Wear With New Ad Campaign

By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA

Despite lackluster winter sales, company keeps moving forward with omni-channel initiative

In an attempt to draw customers back, Gap has announced it’s planning a new ad campaign. The new spring campaign entitled “Lived-In” departs from the company’s traditional flashy, celebrity-oriented ads in favor of young performing artists and celebrities donning Gap casualwear. The goal, according to creative director Rebekka Bay, will be the brand’s way of drawing customers in with its “super casual, iconic pieces,” and that the brand itself will “be the go-to brand for the wardrobe — almost like building blocks.”

Not only will the company be partnering up with various publications and sending the ad out across the social media channels, it will also be partnering with Vogue to showcase the brand in a new way. The March issue of Vogue will feature a tactile fabric ad, which contains a logo made from the cotton of a worn-in Gap T-shirt.

This new ad campaign comes just a few months after the gap launched its “Back to Blue” campaign, which Brandchannel was calling the biggest marketing campaign in the brand’s history. During the campaign, the company returned to television for the first time since 2009 and also featured the campaign via print and outdoor advertising, social media, in-store promotions, and digital marketing. The brand also specifically targeted those mobile users that frequent Tumblr in August by becoming the first brand ever to take over all of Tumblr’s mobile ads for a whole day.

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Campaigns like these are not only attempts to reach omni-channel shoppers in whichever channel they prefer, but they’re also an attempt to increase the brand’s relevance. Gap has seen increasing competition lately from retailers including Zara and H&M. Not to mention, as consumers have become more careful with their spending, they have begun to alter their fashions in order to save money when hitting the mall. For Gap, with its wide selection of higher-priced denim-wear, business has gotten a bit slower. In January, which was in general a difficult month for retailers, Gap did report an increase in comparable stores sales. However, the company only saw a small 1 percent increase in comps compared to last January when comps rose 8 percent. Net sales for Gap were down to $899 million in January compared to $1.1 billion in the previous year.

Regardless of this lackluster performance coming out of January, Gap still has big plans in the works to improve its supply chain and keep introducing customers to its omni-channel initiatives. Already, the company has set its sights on a seamless inventory operating model that, in 2015, will make the company fully omni-channel, RIS News says. In the meantime, the company has been treating its customers to some important new omni-channel offerings, including its Reserve in Store Program. By the later months of 2014, the company hopes that a responsive supply chain will be in place and will help the company make better strategic decisions and improve its assortment strategy.