Dive Brief:
- Gap has struck a multiyear partnership with Just Your Type through the boy band’s labels, Wexler Records and Republic Records, according to a press release. It is the first deal to come out of parent Gap Inc.’s ‘fashiontainment’ platform
- The collaboration with JYT anchors on a documentary series co-produced by Gap that provides a look at the group’s live performances, creative process and each of the five members’ personalities. Gap will also host fan experiences at malls around the U.S. and has developed a fall capsule collection with the musicians.
- Gap and JYT will create additional social content and activations to support cultural storytelling. The tie-up shows Gap embedding deeply with emerging talent in music and fashion spaces where it is already active with its marketing.
Dive Insight:
The pact with JYT gives Gap an opportunity to associate its brand closely with a group that is still in its early days but aligned with the retailer’s young target audience. Pop music and dance frequently factor into Gap’s ad campaigns, and the JYT deal feels like an extension of that strategy. It closely entwines the brand with the boy band’s development through creating social content, leveraging Gap’s brick-and-mortar footprint and outfitting the artists on stage for select performances.
The news offers an early sign of what to expect from Gap Inc.’s fashiontainment platform, which it began ramping up this year. The company in January hired former Paramount executive Pam Kaufman as its first chief entertainment officer and has steadily built out the division since. Lourdes Arocho, another Paramount alum, was appointed senior vice president and head of licensing in May while Gap Inc. last month brought on Justin Breton as vice president of development from Walmart.
Songwriter and producer Freddy Wexler is behind JYT, which is signed to Wexler’s own shingle and Republic Records. JYT was described as a fast-rising music act in the release, which pointed to the group generating more than 450 million views over the past three months. JYT has an audience of more than 2 million followers across social media.
"With JYT, we're drawing on the full breadth of Gap — from creative storytelling and fashion to our stores and experiences — to give audiences multiple ways into the band's world,” Kaufman said in a statement. “JYT embodies the mix of music, dance, personality, fashion and fandom that makes this partnership so exciting — and so distinctly Gap. Together, we can create something much bigger than a campaign."
Gap Inc.’s initial experiment with fashiontainment centering on its namesake brand makes sense. Gap is on a growth tear thanks, in part, to more culturally tapped-in marketing, and has won favor with coveted Gen Z shoppers. Gen Z is also leading a revival for malls, a focus of a JYT national tour launching next month. Gap Inc. is also in the midst of rewiring its marketing approach for Old Navy, including through more creator content, and recently introduced a new brand platform for its lagging women’s athleisure label Athleta.
Marketers more broadly are strengthening their entertainment muscles to keep ad-averse consumers engaged and to try and drive stronger cultural impact. Those bets have included artist endeavors like Gap’s, along with feature-length movies and short-form, soapy vertical video content called microdramas.
