Old Navy attempts re-positioning

According to Ad-age's interview with VP of marketing, Michael Cape, about revamping Old-Navy's image. While many people, myself included, enjoyed their previous "family friendly,"often campy campaigns, it's easy to notice that they may not have been reaching out to the right audience. Over half of the clothing in old navy is geared towards young women, so advertising to everyone could be seen as a bit of a waste.

So, while Old-Navy continues to court parents via circulars, radio, and direct mail, this spring their Television and online advertising will be aimed directly at twenty-somethings. When the campaign begins of February 14th, they will reveal a new logo and a new, "sexier" image. Cape claims that this new campaign will be fully integrated, meaning it will be seen in-store as well as in television and print.

Mr. Cape had this to say about their previous tactics, "We were trying to be all things to all people before," he said. "We really need to resonate with who we're going after." While this is true, I believe Old-Navy is taking quite a risk by changing their tactics. I've never shopped at Old Navy much. Besides the fact that their pants never fit me and seem tailor made for Amazon women who are eight feet tall, the clothes are simply more conservative than what I would wear. Their image does not equate to "fashionable." It is, however, synonymous with "affordable," at least in my mind. It's clear they're trying to seem more fashion-forward to try and capture a larger part of the market. But if their new customers are slow in recognizing this, and they lose the "family" aspect by focusing too much on sex-appeal, they could end up doing real damage.


here's the link: http://adage.com/article?article_id=124924