ColemanMedia Report

San Francisco-based retailer The Gap took out a brand equity loan last week in order to revive sagging sales and brand awareness numbers, according to sources close to the San Leandro branch of Union Bank of California.  The loan, cashing in on decades of brand equity built with highly-acclaimed ad campaigns, is aimed at making the specialty clothier more relevant to the lucrative 13-34 target market after a multi-year slide in popularity and awareness.  ”I think it’s a great move,” said Janette Greeley of Retail Roundup.  ”Our latest studies show that only 12% of females 13-17 plan to make a purchase at The Gap in the next 30 days, and over 72% of males 18-34 didn’t even know that The Gap still exists.  Leveraging decades of amazing advertising to remind people that The Gap offers safe, conservative, and uninspired clothes to go unnoticed in is a great idea.  Because let’s face it, who can tell me the last time they bought something – for themselves – at The Gap?”

A study jointly released by leading market research stalwarts Dynamic Logic and Media Supervisor Dan Resnick revealed that a 3-hour campaign by Resnick to “score chicks” at Kel’s Irish Pub Friday evening increased dating consideration and dating intent by double digits, but did not lift actual dates.  The study, which surveyed nearly 42 women in their early-to-mid twenties, found that exposure to Resnick’s pick-up lines lifted aided awareness of Resnick by 22% and dating consideration of Resnick by 4.5%.  However, according to Resnick’s calendar, the campaign produced zero actual dates.  ”I’m very pleased with the results,” said Resnick.  ”Okay, so maybe I didn’t actually get a date, but that was never my intent.  I just want girls to be aware of me and keep me top of mind.  I can’t expect my self-marketing efforts to convince people to act.  I just need to know that I changed the way people perceive me.”

A new marketing campaign from Skittles that encouraged teens in China with messages of fun and rebellion has inadvertently landed an entire generation of teens aged 13-17 in an undisclosed Chinese prison, according to officials with the Chinese government, who asked to remain anonymous.  The campaign, which urged teens to “Skittlize routine school activities,” reportedly backfired when the teens refused to turn in homework assignments on time, landing them in a state prison somewhere in the rural Xinjiang province.  Regardless, the Skittles marketing department is pleased with the results.  ”We consider this campaign a monumental success,” said Kitty Wang.  ”Our brand awareness within the target market is through the roof.  Our challenge now is that our entire target market is now in jail, and physically unable to buy our product.  And we have no word yet on when they might be let out.”