How Gap’s latest ad campaign starring Tyla signals the brand’s new strategy under CEO Richard Dickson

If you grew up shopping at Gap, you can likely remember some of the great moments in its brand marketing history, from ads featuring a young Spike Lee in the 1980s to the slogan “For every generation” to the famous “Who Wore Khakis” series of print ads, featuring unexpectedly preppy styling from the likes of Miles Davis, Picasso, and James Dean. But it’s been a while since the Gap brand really crossed over to enter the sweater-buying pubic’s consciousness—a loss in cultural cachet that has run in parallel with diminishing financial success. For the 12 months ending in October, the entire company’s net sales slid by 7%, while Gap net sales were down 15%. (Gap Inc. also owns Athleta, Old Navy, and Banana Republic.)

The financial sluggishness—and underlying creative torpor—are what new-ish Gap Inc. CEO Richard Dickson was hired away from Mattel to change. Dickson, who oversaw the Barbie brand’s renaissance, had previously served on Gap Inc.’s board of directors, so he was perhaps more familiar with the brand than most incoming executives. “Gap was was best at its really being about a true original. It was a pop culture brand, and it did more than just sell clothes,” Dickson tells Fast Company. “We were really great at it—until we weren’t. That’s really where I would say Gap hasn’t lived up to its legacy and its potential.”

Under Dickson and Gap brand CEO Mark Breitbard, a major effort to revive Gap’s fortunes is underway. And as part of that initiative, the brand is unveiling a slick new campaign, one that offers a callback to the brand’s heyday while also trying to articulate a sensibility for the future. Starring Tyla, the South African recording artist who just won a Grammy, the ad also features Jungle, the YouTube-famous British electronic music group whose work has been used commercially by Apple, Starbucks, and EA Sports. The video, below, is vaguely reminiscent of Gap’s “Khakis swing” TV commercial from 1998, except where that spot was decidedly retro, this one features a crew of dancers sporting slouchy Gap linen and sexy crop tops, all shot in one continuous take.

Tyla [Photo: Gap]

What are we to conclude from this work? “Improved photography, styling, tighter assortment, better storytelling,” says Breitbard in listing the new campaign’s attributes. It’s also worth noting that Gap is going digital-first with this campaign, focusing its spending in particular on YouTube to reach, potentially, a generation of consumers who may be much more familiar with Tyla’s music than, say, they are with nostalgia for the mall brands their parents grew up with. “The talent that we have with Tyla and Jungle and the popularity that we’re going to drive for both of their personas through this campaign really expresses what we call relevance,” Dickson says. “And from there, you’re going to see the experience come alive in our stores and online.”

[Photo: Gap]

Whether Tyla will help Gap unlock a new chapter of cultural relevance and business success remains to be seen. “I’d say we’re getting our vibe back and importantly we’re starting to matter again and be part of the cultural conversation,” says Dickson. “But recognizing this is really just the start—the beginning of a new beginning.”

Still, it’s worth noting that Dickson’s bet on an ad campaign, as an expression of his vision as a new CEO, comes at a moment when brands ranging from Ikea to Dunkin to Verizon also are taking some pretty ambitious swings with splashy ad campaigns. Could this be the beginning of a mini trend back towards the creative? At a time when the advertising industry is under tremendous pressure, and after years of marketers allocating ever more budget to influencers and lead gen campaigns that promise efficiency at scale (and now AI!), it is nice to see iconic corporate bellwethers like Gap Inc. try to craft a compelling message and take it to the people. If creativity and style again inform the advertising we absorb every day, that would be, like the Tyla Gap ad, both a throwback to an earlier era and—maybe, just maybe—something that feels really fresh and full of energy for today’s consumers.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91038686/how-gaps-latest-ad-campaign-starring-tyla-signals-the-brands-new-strategy-under-ceo-richard-dickson?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

созданный 1y | 27 февр. 2024 г., 15:40:07


Войдите, чтобы добавить комментарий

Другие сообщения в этой группе

Trump’s ‘AI Action Plan’ smoothes the way for a bulked-up electrical grid

Welcome to AI DecodedFast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in

24 июл. 2025 г., 18:20:06 | Fast company - tech
Time anxiety is ruining your life. It doesn’t have to

Chris Guillebeau spent years racing against time, visiting all 193 countries before he turned 35, hosting annual gatherings of thousands, and writing bestsellers like The $100 Startup. Bu

24 июл. 2025 г., 13:40:04 | Fast company - tech
This free site is like Google Maps for local food discovery

As my family settles into a whole new city and community, I’ve been eagerly exploring a variety of sites and services for discovering new gems and getting to know our area. And while our recent cr

24 июл. 2025 г., 11:20:08 | Fast company - tech
He helped kids be creative. Now, he wants to do the same for CEOs

More than a decade ago, Pramod Sharma set out to make learning more engaging. Through

24 июл. 2025 г., 11:20:07 | Fast company - tech
This tool lets users send fake legal letters that look real—without a lawyer

If you can’t afford a lawyer, it turns out there’s nothing stopping you from sending a scary-looking letter that, at first glance, seems to come from one—and hoping the recipient doesn’t read the

24 июл. 2025 г., 09:10:03 | Fast company - tech
9 essential Perplexity AI search tips and tricks

All right, settle in, folks, because today we’re going to try to out-Google Google with the next generation of search: Perplexity.

So, what exactly is

24 июл. 2025 г., 06:40:07 | Fast company - tech