New Gap holiday campaign takes high-energy tack
(11/18/05) Chicago Sun-Times

It all comes down, we suppose, to whether you like your holiday advertising loud and funky or quieter and more reflective. Gap's new holiday campaign featuring its fashion icon of the moment, the perky and somewhat sassy Sarah Jessica Parker, definitely is of the loud and funky variety.

Unlike Gap's holiday commercials in years past, this new work from Laird + Partners/New York breaking today tries to showcase much more of the merchandise available in stores this fall. Each of three spots pans across a vast array of models sporting coats and sweaters and scarves as they groove to music ranging from Mary J. Blige's remake of the classic "Best of My Love" to J.C. Chasez's rendition of Earth, Wind and Fire's "Shining Star." In a third ad, Parker and British actor Will Kemp dance to a remix of "That's the Way I Like It" by Kelis and Van Hunt.

The spots were all shot on bright white sets festooned with giant white and silver ornaments, white faux fur sofas and other trappings appropriate to the season. The white backdrops are an inspired touch that make the colorful Gap merchandise pop especially well.

At the end of each commercial, we see Parker, in an attractive Gap outfit, lift up a gift box as she asks the pressing holiday question: "How Do You Share It?" -- a variation on the Gap fall ad campaign tagline "How Do You Wear It?"

There is no shortage of energy in this work aimed squarely at the youth market, but no one is going to mistake it for Gap's take on "Silent Night." If only for the sake of variety, perhaps, it would have been nice to see one of the spots use a different, less high-voltage tack.