For more than three decades, the Gap has made a particular kind of commercial: gleaming young people, moving in unison, usually in khakis. The formula has been revived, retired and revived again so many times that it has become less a campaign strategy than a seasonal reflex, like the return of pumpkin spice or the upfronts.
Now the brand is trying something different, which is to say, trying not to try so hard.
A new spot, "Denim on Your Own," stars the musician Malcolm Todd and the actress Inde Navarrette. It is set to Mr. Todd's version of "Dancing on My Own," the 2010 Robyn song that has enjoyed the extended half-life common to anthems about solitude. (What, you were expecting "Dancing With Others"?)
Rather than choreographed group movement, the ad features Mr. Todd rolling, sliding and generally occupying blank spaces while wearing the brand's jeans. He is eventually joined by Ms. Navarrette. Neither appears to have received instructions more specific than "be yourself, but in denim."
Gap, which has been part of the broader struggle by heritage apparel brands to matter to anyone born after 1998, worked with what it calls a "movement director" rather than a choreographer — a distinction that may be meaningful primarily to people who attend movement-director conferences.
Fabiola Torres, the chief marketing officer, told Adweek that the shift was intended "to show that the universe of Gap can be all this — from perfect choreography to loose movement."
The statement suggests a certain openness to interpretation, which is perhaps the point.
Whether Gen Z will find this more persuasive than the synchronized khaki parades of the past remains to be seen. But after decades of telling young people exactly how to move, Gap is now, at minimum, asking more politely.
Original story published in adweek.com: "Gap Hits Pause on Its Classic Dance Ads in Quest to Win Gen Z"