Ed Batista posted this link to a GAP ad that was not widely distributed. The staff and customers destroy the store. It is quite entertaining.
The GAP Identity today:
The Gap has become the transparent background music of fashion–the aesthetic you never see because it’s everywhere (and thus effortless to imitate, undercut or adapt.) I like expansive, dramatic gestures–even when they fail, you have a lot more fun making the attempt–and I’d love to see The Gap destroy its increasingly-meaningless brand in order to save it–but I’m hard-pressed trying to think of a big retailer that’s pulled off a similar trick.
Ed reflects on the evolution of GAP’s identity:
At 38, I’m old enough to remember The Gap’s two-stage transformation, first from off-brand denim outlet to cooler-than-Levi’s, and then on to world domination via sort-of-preppy, sort-of-hip GeneriClothes. But a fundamental problem they face now is that the market’s fragmented out from under them, and fewer people want to wear GeneriClothes these days–we’re all pursuing our individual style muses.