Gap: Yesterday and Today
It was the late 60’s San Francisco was a place where sweet grass permeated the air; a new generation occupied its streets and wore flowers in their hair and lots of jeans. Donald Fisher and his wife Doris had a vision as hippies walked the streets. It was to sell them his brand of jeans. The first store was opened in 1969. The Gap [Point 1] name was adopted from the term “generation gap” that the hippie generation was quite different from their parents.
Soon Gap became more than Levi’s; it was to emerge into the fashion world with its own particular brand and meet each new generation’s needs through each decade. Yet, what made Gap unique and dominate began in 1998 when Hip Hop helped launch Khakis for Gap with music by Bill Mason. In that same year, men and women in Khakis swing danced which not only helped their clothing line but also brought back swing. In 1999 one of their commercials line danced to the country beat of Dwight Yoakim singing “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, swooning audiences to buy their brand.
They were king and Gap ruled the world, selling their brand globally. The Gap connected to its audience and those 90’s dancing commercials caught the world by storm. Their commercials spoke to their audience through a rhythm that each cultural group understood. They are a long standing corporation whose family includes Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta, Intermix and Weddington Way.
With the evolution of social media [Point 2] things changed and Gap moved into this new arena bringing their customers into a more intimate relationship where they interacted and also talked in real time on Facebook and Twitter. YouTube proved beneficial because customers can view their brand. The feedback with these social media outlets gave Gap customers the ability to give this company thumbs up or thumbs down. In either case it helped set the tone for what the audience wanted.
Sharing conversations in real time changed the feel and look of Gap. Social media for any company will make it a perfect marriage or grounds for divorce. Gap does have its competition in this new social media world. With so many different fashion sites on line and less cost for clothing than Gap and its sister stores can be disappointing to say the least. In 2016, Gap is trying to regain their fashion identity even though Instagram didn’t work the way they wanted.
Gap Inc. [Point 3] is very ambitious and has a strategic message by becoming involved in social issues. They have forged an ideal that bringing environmental change and human rights changes within their company and in their ads sends a positive voice globally that Gap is deeply embedded into equality. Because of their commitment, Gap has received the non-profit Catalyst Award in March of 2016.
In 2007, Gap began P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement) which helps advance women (who make their clothes) by teaching them or advancing them in their skills for a better life. Many of these women have benefited through P.A.C.E. by becoming more confident in who they are.
Then in 2009 when a contractor in Africa dumped toxic chemicals into a landfill for certain fashion brands, Gap was one of them. CBS picked up on the story and found that the nearby river turned a deep purplish blue making the water extremely dangerous. Stakeholders in the company put pressure on management for an outcome that would benefit the environment, the people and Gap itself. Gap made a 360 degree turnaround.
Gap [Point 4] has had its ups and downs within the fashion industry. Gap started losing its crown after 2000 due to people’s fickle taste in the clothing industry and at this point Gap’s quality was lower then the expectations of its audience. Most will go to Gap’s sister stores for cheaper prices but those who could afford more expensive clothes would buy at Nordstroms. Gap was in a dilemma.
Gap changed its course and entered the new social media world which helped them to wear their crown again. Gap can be found on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Corporate blogs.
Gap not only listens to its stakeholders as it did in 2009 but Gap also listens to its audience on Twitter, Gap Inc. @GapInc. It tweeted that after feedback the designers went back to work to change their brand in a more innovative way. Gap Inc. is using a pop up on sustainable products on Facebook and on its Corporate Blogs you will find on Tumblr advertisements on their sister store Old Navy and its reasonable clothes.
Keeping their commitment to equality, Gap produced a video called, “Branding the Gap,” the corporation’s catchy phrase to advertise their brand brought together a diverse group of people expressing a message that diversity makes a culture flourish but also by using white blank tees to symbolize individuality. In other words, who every wears it expresses their own brand. I found that to be a brilliant ideas selling tees yet expressing a philosophy of different cultures, different genders and different life styles.
Keeping their tradition to support humanitarian issues Gap has helped when disasters strike and at this site they have given to the three Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the recent earthquake in Mexico where they have donated 2 million in relief.
Gap Inc. sells children’s brands of clothes. Their YouTube Gap ad become so popular because the teacher was filling their minds of children with a positive outlook on life and believing they can accomplish anything they want to. Whether this will sell more jeans or children’s clothes is up in the air but this message of empowerment is important and Gap’s message of human rights has become a positive brand for their ads.
That said, [Point 5] recently there UK Company had produced an ad for tee shirts for children with Einstein for boys and Social Butterfly for girls. These tee shirts have caused an uproar on social media.
Although Gap has tried to justify their tee shirts by saying that they were trying to promote individuality. It appears by the outcry that sexism is still alive. Maybe they could have done some social media research instead. According to “Social Media Marketing,” they might have used focus groups within Facebook Groups to view their new tees (Tuten, Solomon, Pg. 283). This would have saved them much chagrin in the long run.
I would recommend to keep Social Butterfly and spell Einstein correctly but add more tees for individuality; such as, Madam Currie, Harriet Tubman, Alan Turing, Neil Degrassse Tyson. Then have each tee with a small booklet that tells about each of these people. Children will not only be wearing tees but will learn something as well; that they can achieve greatness in their own way.
However, Gap Inc. is a global corporation and keeping track of each company in each country can be trying. I do believe as in the past Gap has had ups and downs yet it is still a King or Queen within the fashion industry. Gap will recover from this if they use better marketing strategies with their audience. For example, Sentiment Analysis would give them a more emotional reaction by a focus group to their line of clothes ahead of time (Tuten, Solomon, Pg.270). Then they would be able to understand if emotionally they receive a positive or negative reaction before they present the line globally to all customers. It is important to pay attention to the people by listening as they have done in the past to their audience only this time do more research before some of the products hit the fashion market.
Works Cited
Tuten, Tracy L., Solomon Michael R.: Social Media Marketing. Pearson Education, First Edition, 2012/Copyright, 2015 by Tuten, Solomon
