Gap use real reindeer in Christmas promotion

There’s no Donner, no Blitzen and no Rudolph in Gap’s latest social media promotion, but there’s plenty of offers.

The clothing retailer, working with digital agency AKQA, has unleashed an admittedly odd campaign that tracks eight real reindeer (not the flying kind) in a pasture in Lake Crystal, Minn.

The reindeer, which are equipped with GPS, compete in various “contests” including tests for who moves the farthest, fastest, slowest or closest to the North Pole on a particular day. Each one is connected to a different deal. Emma, for instance, will get you 40% off your whole purchase. Chloe will get you all accessories in store for $5 each.

Fans are encouraged to give their preferred reindeer a boost with supported tweets.

Gap Want to give this Christmas

Not long after Gap began advertising in Foursquare with a 25% discounts for checkins, Foursquare co-founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai have found another way to work with the marketing team at Gap: by modeling in its latest ad campaign.

The campaign, which is running in TV, print and online, features a number of relatively high-profile figures, including former First Niece Lauren Bush, Aussie actor Ryan Kwanten from True Blood and style blogger Susie Bubble. It asks the question: “If you could give anything in the world, what would it be?”

Crowley and Selvadurai chose to benefit Camp Interactive, which combines nature and technology to benefit inner-city youth.

You can view one of the commercials from the campaign below. For each “Like” one of the videos receives on Facebook, $1 will be donated to the charity featured in the video, on top of a base $150,000 donation from Gap. (Customers will also receive a 30% discount on one regularly priced item from Gap when they mention the words Viral 30 in store).



A really nice, feel good campaign that is less about what can we flog to you and more about what can we give. A great strategy that is sure to get GAP many online hits and positive exposure during such a noisy retail period.

Gap's model search through iphone app

If you’ve ever looked into the windows of a babyGap or GapKids storefront and thought to yourself: “Wow, my child is way prettier than all of these kids photographed in the window front, it’s too bad I’m too lazy to take a quality portrait on my digital camera, and upload it to Gap’s website for its annual babyGap and Gap Kids Casting Call contest,” today is your lucky day — if you own an iPhone, that is.

For the fifth year of its Casting Call campaign, Gap has developed a special iPhone app [iTunes link] to make it easier for parents to enter their 0 to 10-year-olds into the contest, the four winners of which will be featured in the company’s babyGap or GapKids store window advertisements, and other promotional materials. Gap judges will select and fly 20 finalists to San Francisco for a professional photo shoot in mid-November. Fans will be able to vote on the final winners from December 6-20.

Parents can enter their 0-10-year-olds using the mobile app. After registering, you’ll be asked to fill out a short entry form including your child’s name, sex and date of birth, as well as your contact information. You’ll then be prompted to take a photo of your child using your iPhone or to pick one from your existing library, which cannot be more than three months old.

After you’ve entered it’s time to beg your friends to download the app and start voting for your kid; the one with the most votes will receive a $1,000 Gap gift card for receiving the most votes, though s/he will not be flown out to do a photo shoot, unless s/he is also a favorite of the judges. You can then keep track of how many Fan votes your children have garnered under “My Entries,” as well as keep track of how many votes the competition has received in the Gallery section.

In all seriousness, the app is a smart idea that should substantially increase the number of submissions, which numbered more than 1 million last year. Gap has pursued an aggressive digital and mobile marketing strategy as of late, having offered discounts via Foursquare (Foursquare), Loopt, and Groupon all within the last six months.

From: Mashable

Mind the Gap

Gap has dropped plans to change its logo after being ridiculed by bloggers and tweeters for a new design unveiled last week.

The new look (pictured, above) was meant to give Gap a more contemporary look but was criticised for its uninspiring design. Gap consumers also objected to the change being introduced without any warning. Gap North America president Marka Hansen admitted that the US casualwear giant had not approached the launch of the new logo in the right way, adding:

“We’ve learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community. This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing.”

She added that the logo may be changed in the future but that “when that time comes, we’ll handle it in a different way“.

The retailer said that it would revert to its traditional logo on www.gap.com and would turn it red for the US holiday season.

Exerts from Retail Week