Gap is all over the news today. The front page of this morning’s WWD reveals that Gap Inc’s chairman and CEO, Glenn Murphy, has cleaned house at the brand.

Marka Hansen, the former president of Gap North America, was sacked and will be succeeded by Art Peck, president of Gap Inc.’s outlet division and executive vice president of corporate strategy. And, Ogilvy & Mather Wolrdwide is the new ad agency for Gap. (That means Laird + Partners, the label’s longtime creative agency, is out.)

Pam Wallack, currently president of Gap Adult North America, will become executive director of the new Gap Global Creative Center, based in NYC. In a move reflecting Gap’s serious need to attract more creative talent, the Global Creative Center will function as a central headquarters for design. As WWD points out, it’s probably easier to find design talent in NYC than in San Francisco where the brand is currently headquartered.

Gap’s creative director, Patrick Robinson, has definitely done his part in improving the design and image of Gap. The second free-standing 1969 store just opened today in NYC. The first is in LA. These stores are meant to highlight the two-year-old Gap spin-off brand 1969, to offer pieces that are currently in Japanese and European Gap stores, and to be a showpiece for the “cool, sexy part of the brand,” as Patrick Robinson mentioned to me at the opening of the store this morning.

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