The man who headed up Gap’s marketing and advertising campaigns has left the company, according to WWD (subscription required).
After a 14-year run at Gap, Dennis Leggett decided that enough was enough, and has decided to move on. Sources told WWD that Leggett was frustrated with Gap’s poor performance over the last decade.
It seems that Leggett’s position might not be filled. Instead, Laird+Partners–the creative consulting firm that does most of Gap’s campaigns–will likely be playing a bigger role in things.
Of course, the fashion world is wondering: What does this mean for Patrick Robinson?
The truth is, Robinson has a ton of other challenges to face. While he surely collaborates with marketing and advertising on creative, the bigger issue is the clothes he’s designing aren’t selling as well as Gap–and its investors–would like them to be.
Whatever you think of Robinson, this really isn’t only his fault. What consumers often don’t realize is that design teams within big companies create a large collection six times a year–plenty of those pieces get “dropped.” That means that the buyers within the company say that they won’t be able to sell these items. Often, the dropped pieces are the most fashion forward.
If you work at a company like J.Crew, your boss–Mickey Drexler–will probably make sure the good stuff makes it. But Gap doesn’t have Mickey Drexler as a CEO. (Well, they used to, but that’s another story for another time). They have a former drug store CEO who, while great at cutting costs, surely doesn’t have a clue about what today’s consumer wants or doesn’t want, at least from an aesthetic standpoint.
Here’s the takeaway, though: Gap isn’t going anywhere. It might get smaller, but it’s never departing altogether. And we sincerely hope the latter is true for Robinson.
Tags: Dennis Leggett, Gap, Patrick Robinson, WWD
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two things I noticed. Last winter I wanted this Navy navajo sweater coat I had seen in preview. I waited for it to come out , like 6 months. Nothing . When the print finally showed there was no sweater coat but there were a ton of other variations on that print. None as great as that one. Also the stores had a million pieces of everything so why would there be a rush to buy ?
also The more recent Pierre Hardy boot collections showed up in the store WAY later than advertised.
My advice: sell it while it's hot, Fashion moves fast. and Limit availability. No one wants something that they see on a rack in quantities of 500, there is no urgency and you know it will go on sale.
I love what Patrick Robinson has done leave him in, but get someone in there who knows what they are doing as far as merchandising the stores. It will make a huge difference.
poor PR. we know he is crazy talented. i have always suspected Lauren's comments–glad to hear it from someone who knows about the industry–thanks
Gap could use an overhaul. They had a few memorable seasons when I was in high school in the late 90's early 00's – remember all the colored capris, flip flops with flowers, and those catchy swing dancing commercials? I stopped into a Gap store recently when shopping with a friend after not having been in one in 5+ years. The clothes were all very boring and didn't seem to be very good quality.
“They have a former drug store CEO who, while great at cutting costs, surely doesn’t have a clue about what today’s consumer wants or doesn’t want, at least from an aesthetic standpoint.”
Have you ever been in a Shoppers Drug Mart? It is not at all like Duane Reade or Rite-Aid. The store is actually very aesthetically pleasing, the re-vamped product lines are very attractive and he dealt with a legacy of really gross and old stores that were all re-done to highlight the far more expensive products now offered like lancome, smashbox, benefit etc in the beauty department alone. Anyone who remembers old Shoppers vs new Shoppers would say that the transformation is amazing. The real business difference is that Gap is a publicly traded company while Shoppers was owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund which is basically a private equity investment firm for the pension and that made it a lot easier and faster to take the kind of action needed to implement a game changer at Shoppers (less people to report to and be accountable to).
As for the ad campaigns, has anyone really said “Wow those are really cool Gap ads, I really want to buy those jeans?” It seems to me that the denim ads have been the same for the last several years: famous models in denim in front of a plain white background. I do blame the new CEO for not asking (or maybe not permitting) Legget to run some more innovative ads.