While watching my favorite TV show yesterday, I became increasingly annoyed with the GAP commercial singing “Go Christmas, Go Hanukah, Go Kwanzaa, Go Solstice etc.” It’s winter outfits, dancing, and catchy lyrics are what make this commercial complete, and very annoying. To top it off though, they had advertise it on more than one medium, and make the holiday cheer a little bit more…cheery.
While walking through the mall a week earlier, I had seen this same advertisement on the window of the GAP: A cute circle of adults in winter wear, smiling, with a baby in the middle. Cute right? Maybe, but more importantly, it is definitely something I didn’t have trouble remembering, and that’s the point of these advertisements. To make sure that you remember what you saw. Go to the GAP website and you will be bombarded with the same silly pictures. This is their holiday campaign, and it is definitely a success. Anywhere that sells GAP clothing, or where there is a GAP slogan: be it TV, a billboard, a magazine, anything (I’ve seen them all). That picture will be there. Reminding you to go to your nearest GAP and buy some cute winter clothes for the ones you love this holiday season, no matter what holiday you celebrate.
This specific campaign is one targeted to many audiences. Obviously, by looking at demographics, we see a target to all different religious groups and ages. The campaign has something for everyone. Whether it be the little kids dancing around, or the dad doing flips, or the mom and dad sharing a moment, or the teens just having a good time; “If your a part of a family, then these clothes are for you.” I also feel like the company wants you to realize how comfortable the clothes are. The people in the commercial are doing flips, bends, jumping around, the works, all in these clothes. Obviously, GAP wants you to realize that comfort matters without having to come out and say it. Even in the picture campaigns on websites etc, the people are in a position that would require comfortable clothes to work.
For psychographics, I would have to say that the company was aiming for the young at heart: The people who would appreciate the small things in life such as family, friends, and happiness. They knew that because of the holiday season that their campaign would be effective in sharing the holiday cheer. In fact, the slogan of their campaign is “Ready For Holiday Cheer.”
I’m not sure of the schedule of this commercial, but I do know that it is a frequent flier. In the short amount of time I watch TV a day, I can assure you that I’ve seen it on nearly every channel and multiple times. This only goes to show that they are trying to reach a big audience of people. In my opinion, they have a good strategy and have chosen a perfect time to run their ad. It is the holidays and that means its time for people to be in a good mood and begin looking for presents. The fact that this commercial has a catchy toon, lots of smiling, and people of all ages, all for the common goal of wishing a happy holidays is a great idea. Keep up the good work GAP, just chill out a little bit. It’s slightly annoying. 
One more thing, this is a link to an interesting article I found about multimedia campaigns, and this is an ad to the gap website where you’ll be bombarded with gap-holiday-ness.
