Campaign

A group of AUB students studying Business Administration with emphasis on Marketing were tasked with writing a report about an advertising campaign of their choice. The team elected to dissect GAP'S most recent campaign entitled ‘Dress Normal’. Their analysis was so insightful that it earned them the highest grade (96/100) among 60 of their peers. We at Arabad encourage such fine endeavour and are proud to share with you the campaign analysis below in hope of setting a great example for other students pursuing similar careers in communication.

GAP is a global clothing and accessories brand focused on delivering casual American style. The brand offers classic pieces of clothing that help customers express their individuality while trying to represent what it means to be bright. Founded in San Francisco in 1969 by Donald and Doris Fisher, the brand has now grown to owning over 1,700 retail stores around the world. In 2012, GAP opened in Lebanon after a deal with Azadea in three stores around the country. Since GAP is a global and well-known brand, the Lebanese market had already developed brand awareness before it entered their market. In addition, since GAP wasn’t available in Lebanon, the Lebanese market perceived it as a more prestigious and exclusive fast-fashion brand, compared to the stores they’ve had for years now. Therefore, the Lebanese market might have a quite different perception of the brand compared to the American market, which seems to view it in a more classical and undifferentiated way. For the purpose of this study, we decided to analyse GAP’S latest campaign: Dress Normal. The campaign was developed by Weiden + Kennedy, GAP’S alltime advertising agency, and was released on September 1st 2014. The campaign was composed of three types of media: 1-Short videos described as short films: Drive, Kiss, Golf and Stairs; 2-Photographs used in-stores, on outdoor billboards and online; 3-digital campaign, which was released using the hashtag #Dressnormal. In the following report, we will first present the objectives of the selected campaign, then move to an analysis from both consumers’ and marketers’ perspectives, and finally provide some recommendations to improve it.