• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, August 19, 2013

Do your best to drop the word “channel.” No, Tricia Nichols, Global Lead of Consumer Engagement, Media Innovation & Partnerships for Gap Brand, says you really shouldn’t use the word anymore. “You have to make it about the consumer,” Nichols told attendees of MediaPost's Mobile Insider Summit, on Monday morning. (Similarly, as MediaPost’s Steve Smith put it earlier in the morning: “It’s about consumer planning; not media planning.”) In place of channels, the buzzword of the day is “omni-channel,” which represents a less siloed approach to consumer marketing – but Nichols isn’t a fan. Rather, Gap prefers to think in terms of “brand-bonding,” according to Nichols. “Everything has to roll up into an overall brand-bonding [strategy.]”