Last night, I was watching E! and saw a segment highlighting a new black and white print ad campaign shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz for The Gap (NYSE: GPS). It seems, one celebrity is not enough for The Gap. Instead, The Gap is using an army of celebrities to appeal to a wide variety of demographic markets.
The new campaign is called Classics Redefined, and during the segment on E!, I saw photos of John Mayer, Lucy Liu, Forrest Whitaker, Sarah Silverman and more in their Gap t-shirts. Today, I did a quick search and found a press release on The Gap corporate website listing the following celebrities as participants in the new Gap campaign:
- John Mayer, Musician
- Lucy Liu, Actor
- Liev Schreiber, Actor
- Sarah Silverman, Comedian
- Forest Whitaker, Actor
- Selma Blair, Actor
- Ken Watanabe, Actor and Producer
- Regina King, Actor
- Davis Guggenheim, Director and Producer
- Twyla Tharp, Choreographer and Director
- Marcel Wanders, Designer
- Puffy AmiYumi, Rock Stars
The Gap ran a similar star-studded campaign last summer to hype their T-Shirt Shop. Stars participating in the T-Shirt Shop campaign included:
- Jeremy Piven
- Mia Farrow
- Aaron Eckhart
- Natasha Bedingfield
- Common
- Eva Herzigova
- Pete Wentz
- Lou Doillon
- Paula Patton
- Kristen Stewart
- Brice Marden
- Yvonne Force
- Steven Tyler
- Zooey Deschanel
In 2005, The Gap launched a campaign highlighting stars' favorite Gap items featuring:
- Alanis Morissette
- Jason Mraz
- Joss Stone
- John Legend
- Liz Phair
- Keith Urban
- Destiny's Child's Michelle Williams
- Incubus' Brandon Boyd
The Gap has a history of using an army of celebrities to tout its brand and products. The strategy must be working because they're spending a lot of money on this new Classics Redefined campaign, but is it too much? I'm not a big proponent of celebrity endorsements, but The Gap is a brand that I think can benefit from them. I think they are actually using an interesting mix of celebrities who will appeal to a variety of audiences. What do you think? Will they get a positive return on investment considering how much they must have paid a dozen celebrities?
I agree with most of what you say, but I do feel that enough is enough with the celebrities. I think its about time they start trying something new and different before people get tired of seeing the same old sort of advertising.
Posted by: Carol | August 1, 2007 12:45 PM | Permalink to Comment