The Gap’s athletic brand Athleta launches a new campaign this week. To create it, Athleta has partnered with Peterson Milla Hooks advertising agency.
Photo: Power to the She ad, from Adage
Gap Inc. is currently investing in Athleta stores with premium locations, such as Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Los Angeles’ The Grove shopping center, says Adage. By mid-January, the brand will operate 10 stores, and it plans to launch up to 50 stores by the end of 2013.
«As we’re growing, we recognize the opportunity to have a creative platform and a brand campaign. It seemed like a good time to launch something compelling,» said Tess Roering, Athleta’s VP-marketing and creative. «We really haven’t had a tagline before. We’ve played with things but nothing has really stuck. When PMH brought this to us, it felt so right.»
It’s not disclosed how much money the brand is about to spend in 2012. In 2010, Athleta spent just $400,000 on measured media, according to Kantar Media, though that figure raised up to $7.3 million in the first 10 months of 2011.
Athleta is not big enough to work with a full-time agency. It has teamed up with PMH, a Minneapolis-based independent shop for the four-month project. Together they roll out the campaign called ‘Power to the She» that will include print, digital, in-store marketing, sponsorships and partnerships.
The campaign will feature an unusually long tagline: ‘Find a job. Find the one. Have one. Have two. Roast a chicken. Cut bangs. Run. Breathe. … We kick asphalt. Power to the She.’
Athleta will appear in Runner’s World, Yoga Journal, Fitness and Shape as well as in Real Simple, In Style and Sports Illustrated magazines. The brand is also expanding its title sponsorship of Iron Girl with a co-branded training program and plans to announce a national partnership with the nonprofit Girls on the Run.
«We learned that our customer over-indexed to an extreme measure in watching sports. She went to college and loves to follow her college basketball and football teams,» Ms. Roering said. «We also know she’s interested in the Olympics, and it’s an Olympics year.»
