• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, October 23, 2023

It’s too soon to see how new leadership will redirect Gap’s struggling brands. But holiday campaigns from both Gap and Old Navy point to different marketing directions.

Old Navy is bringing Natasha (“Poker Face”) Lyonne back for the second installment of ads, this time focusing on the budget brand’s first-ever “Dressy Collection.”

The actor, who first appeared in spots for the brand this fall, confronts two versions of herself dressed for holiday parties. One pronounces the other as “glitzy glammy,” while the second repays the kind words with “super snazzy.” The pair end the festival of compliments with the campaign’s tagline, “Thanks, It’s Old Navy.”

Ads reflect a new fashion direction for the brand, best known for affordable jeans and casual looks. The holiday styles, including velvet pantsuits, glittery dresses and sequin pants, are priced from $15 to $70. Another series of spots features Lyonne schlepping a stolen toboggan, loaded with an expanded array of sweaters and puffer outerwear.

At Gap, the holiday campaign is more familiar. The new holiday ads, like many in recent years, tap into a cadre of kind-of-famous creative spirits, this time with their families. They include A-listers like musician Alanis Morissette and influencer Jay Shetty -- but also less-recognizable personalities like models Sabina Karlsson and Florence Huntington-Whiteley and Ghetto Gastro, a chef’s collective.

This year’s twist is that rather than show looks that are all-new for the holiday, the campaign focuses on combining fresh styles with some of the Gap’s best-loved pieces.

Themed “Gifted,” the company says the spots convey “gratitude, reflection, and togetherness.”

Gap hired Richard Dickson, Mattel’s chief operating officer, several months ago to fill its long-vacant president and chief executive officer spot.

And while the new CEO has said the company needs to do things differently, he joined just as Gap’s quarterly results confirmed many of the retailer’s problems. Net sales fell 8% to $3.55 billion, including an 11% dip in ecommerce. Revenue at Old Navy slipped 6%, to $1.96 billion. At the Gap, sales tumbled 14% to $755 million. Gap also owns Banana Republic, where sales decreased 11% to $480 million.

Sales even fell at Athleta, one of the company’s healthier brands, easing 1% to $341 million.

Solving Gap’s problems won’t be easy, given how many competitors the company has and how it seems to have lost its connection with shoppers.

In a recent Deutsche Bank analysis of the apparel sector, analyst Gabriella Carbone reports that Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic have all lost market share in the past five years. And between 2021 and 2022, Old Navy lost more in market share than any other brand, except for Kohl’s.