Life Done Right™

© Gap

Choreographer Twyla Tharp, 66, is featured in the fall Gap ad campaign going under the pitch “Classics Redefined.” Gap’s sales continue to slide in the face of multiple competitors selling a more hip notion of what’s in fashion. This ad campaign is more of same failed strategy Gap has used in the past to build an emotional connection to their target customer. Why this brand continues to define its core values around a celebrity image is puzzling. The one thing a brand needs today is authenticity. There’s nothing authentic about hiring yet another series of celebrities to convey the essence of your brand. Everyone knows these celebrities do it for the endorsement money. C’mon, Gap, make a personal statement. It’s time to dump Laird for some fresh thinking.

Here’s an ad: why not fill a pickup truck with jeans, khakis, sweaters, and shirts, park outside a school in a depressed city, and let kids take what they want. Cut to the next morning. The school buses arrive and everyone is wearing their new Gap clothes…but in their own stylish way. That’s the way you keep it authentic. Forget conforming to a celebrity’s image; empower kids to make their own stylistic choices and express an aspect of their own personality.

Tagline: Gap…Old School Redefined.