In just a few years, Old Navy has become the biggest driver of growth for its parent company, Gap Inc. And in 2014, events helped the clothing retailer amplify engagement with new and existing consumers.
In June 2014, Old Navy worked with experiential agency A2G to build buzz for its annual $1 flip-flop sale by enticing customers to tweet about the offer in exchange for a free pair of flip-flops. The shoes were dispensed from interactive vending machines set up in 26 locations in New York and Los Angeles, and Old Navy generated 12 million social media impressions during the campaign’s three-day run.
In October, the brand celebrated its 20th anniversary with an attention-grabbing Selfiebration in Times Square. Brand reps asked fans to tweet their birthday wishes and upload selfies to Twitter with a #Selfiebration hashtag. Three of the participants had their wishes—which ranged from exotic vacations to celebrity meet and greets—granted by Old Navy, and other participants received recognition on a balloon-filled billboard that was created by Pittsburgh-based agency Deeplocal. Dubbed the “selfie machine,” the fixture was connected to nearly five miles of wiring and used custom software to grab images from Twitter that had the #Selfiebration hashtag. The software then rasterized the images to display them on the billboard via inflated balloons. The machine ran for eight hours to create nearly 1,000 selfies; the event also took place in Los Angeles.
Throughout the rest of the year, Old Navy hosted festive activations that engaged families around the holiday season. At a holiday promotion at Fig & Olive in Los Angeles in December, guests were given tags as they entered the restaurant. Each guest could write their address on a tag, tie it to one of the Christmas trees in the party space, and have the tree delivered to their home. In January, Forbes reported that even though Gap’s namesake brand had experienced dwindling sales, Gap Inc. saw 3 percent growth during the holiday 2014 season, primarily driven by 12 percent growth at Old Navy, which is the largest global brand for the apparel giant.
Old Navy’s own growth in 2014 was undeniable: according to Gap Inc.’s fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014 results, Old Navy delivered positive comparable sales results during each quarter of the year and saw a positive 11 percent increase during the fourth quarter.
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