Old Navy's Brand Position
Started in 1994, Old Navy is named after a bar in Paris. A subsidiary of Gap Inc. (which includes brands such as Banana Republic, Gap, GapKids, and babyGap), the brand “Old Navy” has become synonymous with fun, affordable, on-trend fashion for the whole family. Old Navy’s advertising has traditionally reflected the brand’s fun attitude towards fashion and marketing.
Old Navy started out as one of the fastest growing brands of the 1990s, but as it entered the new millennium it faced declining sales year after year. In 2009 Old Navy redefined its target demographic and changed its marketing approach, resulting in improved sales. Since then Old Navy has become the most profitable company for Gap Inc.
The target demographic for Old Navy is “Jennie”. Jennie is 25 to 35 years old. She is a young mother with little time. Jennie is always on the lookout for clothes that are on-trend and affordable. As a busy mother Jennie is not only shopping for herself, but also her family. If Jennie were a celebrity she might be Reese Witherspoon: 35 years old, two kids, with a busy schedule (she is an actress, producer, spokeswomen, and philanthropist). Needless to say Witherspoon is busy, and like other busy mom’s needs a one-stop shop to find fashionable clothes for herself and her family.
| Witherspoon and Family |
In 2009, Old Navy hired advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky to help boost sales. CP+B developed a unique and quirky campaign for Old Navy featuring the company’s newest personalities “The SuperModelquins”. The SuperModelquins were relatively well received. The campaign featured a cast of Old Navy mannequins talking about Old Navy clothes. The campaign would follow the SuperModelquins through various situations and adventures, sometimes interacting with real people. Mannequins in all Old Navy stores were redesigned to look like the cast of the campaign and the campaign used social media to further develop the SuperModelqins’ identity. Some SuperModelquins had their own Twitter accounts where they posted updates about themselves and current features at Old Navy stores.
Old Navy Presents: Soccer Mamaquins
Old Navy’s brand attitude was also often reflected in its brick and mortar stores. Over the past few years as the company works to re-establish its brand and define its target demographic, it is also renovating stores to create the “The New Old Navy”, a more inviting and energizing shopping experience.
The Market Landscape
Compared to its competitors, Old Navy is more active in advertising. For example, H&M has few TV campaigns and the TV spots usually focus on the overall high-fashion influences of H&M. Whereas Old Navy commercials maintain the brand behaviour and identity and typically feature one, or two items that are currently on feature.
H&M Spring 2011 Commercial
Old Navy’s competitors use print (in-store magazines or fliers) and out of home advertising. For example H&M and Joe Fresh both offer high quality, heavily branded, in-store magazines to feature new and upcoming trends. In comparison, Old Navy, along with Target, Walmart, and Zellers, use flyers to advertise feature items and trends. Using flyers is not as high-fashion as an in-house magazine, but flyers can advertise key items on a rotating basis.
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| Old Navy Flyer |
The Campaign: “Old Navy Records: Original Hits. Original Styles.”
In February Old Navy launched a new campaign, a change from the SuperModelquins which had dominated Old Navy advertising for the past two years. However, as Old Navy and CP+B embarked on the new campaign the SuperModelquins posted their good-byes and new ventures on Twitter.
To further develop Old Navy’s relationship with Jennie, the company launched “Old Navy Records: Original hits. Original style.” This campaign is Old Navy’s first venture into music and creating an interactive brand experience for its customers. Jennie has come to expect a fun and innovative shopping experience and “Old Navy Records: Original hits. Original styles” offers this.
The campaign features original Old Navy bands and recording artists performing Old Navy branded songs and staring in Old Navy commercials. The commercials closely resemble a music videos rather than a traditional commercials. The campaign’s music was produced by Honor Roll Music and directed by Joseph Kahn. The Old Navy branded songs selling everything from “Flirty Flip Flops” to “Summer Tie Shorts”.
The first ad, “Super C-U-T-E” glamorized Old Navy by depicting that when wearing Old Navy clothes any activity, even a root canal, can be glamorous. At the end of the commercial the Old Navy voiceover lets the audience knows they too can “Be super cute in old navy jeans for
$19.50. Turn up today!”
$19.50. Turn up today!”
Old Navy Records Presents: "Super C-U-T-E" by The Audio Threadz
Throughout the campaign each commercial has similar messaging, for example, “Dress up the day with dresses from only $15.00,” or “Let your ankle show with ankle jeans and flirty flats.” The key message for the ad is to invite the customer to come into Old Navy today and buy the cute, fashionable, trendy items.
Old Navy Records Present: "Don't Hide Your Shine" by Mathew Ray
Old Navy Records Present: "Welcome to the Ankle Show" by Cherie and the Stems
The second key message in each ad is “Turn Up Today.” This message seems to be in reference to a few things. First, Old Navy wants the audience to turn up the music, and the music is the branded Old Navy songs. The second is to turn up to Old Navy to buy the latest fashion.
The objectives of this campaign are to drive sales among the target demographic by further integrating the Old Navy brand into Jennie’s everyday life. Not only is she wearing Old Navy clothes but she can listen to Old Navy artists, and use her mobile phone to interact with the brand. Now, Old Navy is not just another store, it becomes the center of the broader culture where music and fashion co-exist.
A second objective of the campaign is to add new energy to the brand by making it fresh, fun, and fashion forward. This new energy will assist the brand to expand the company’s market share by attracting new customers. For example, this campaign appeals to me since the clothes are more fashionable then I remember when watching the Supermodelquins. Old Navy is no longer just for soccer moms, but any woman that wants fashionable and affordable cloths. This campaign assists to leverage the Old Navy brand and to gain a stronger presence in the market where competitors, such as H&M, are infringing on Old Navy’s market share.
The Old Navy Records campaign is a fun, on-trend campaign that emulates the energy of the brand. Each ad is heavily branded and depicts a fun and current item. The overall strength of the ad is the creative element that integrates the clothes and the brand into song. This further integrates the brand into the costumers’ everyday life. By matching the Old Navy brand with music the brand is given a new, fun, and trendy appearance. Through this process the brand still maintains its image but is able to further expand its persona.
Old Navy has attempted to make this campaign fully integrated; however the downfall is that the Old Navy artists are just that, an extension of the brand. The artists only exist in this campaign and because of this the campaign loses some authenticity. All songs are available to download on iTunes, however each song is only a minute or two long, which resemble a jingle more than a hit song.
This campaign falls short. Old Navy should have used fewer artists and more repeat appearances by the artist in various commercials. This would further develop the relationship between the artist and the brand and between music and the fashion. To further create a complete brand experience for its audience, Old Navy could have extended the campaign in to social media (for example created a Facebook page, Twitter account, or MySpace for the artists). Through Shazam the audience can gain access to information about the artist, but by having a separate social media campaign that links the artists and Old Navy would add greater depth and value to the campaign by engaging the audience.
