The GAP

To make a Vancouver Gap store stand out from the crowd and promote
the launch of its new loyalty program Sprize, Cossette took a, well, backwards approach.

Inspired by the notion of “shopping turned on its head,” the agency literally turned Gap’s flagship Vancouver store on its head by flipping the store upside down.

To grab the attention of women in their late twenties and thirties, buying for themselves or their families, the agency worked throughout the night on Nov. 4, 2009, to flip elements in and around the store including mannequins, clothing, store front displays, cars, street hand walkers and much more – the store was the media channel.

To garner media attention around Sprize and showcase the flipped store, Cossette hosted a press event at the store on Nov. 5 where Gap’s senior management delivered the launch of Sprize to Vancouver’s media and online personalities.

Other activities included a 30-second radio spot, a social media campaign including Twitter and Facebook, videoblogger web content documenting the store flip, and a street team component.

The program resulted in a spike in program registration, store traffic and sales over the weekend of the event. In addition, there was great online uptake. In the first two weeks of the program – involving only one store, on one street, in one city – over 40,000 people were reached on Twitter through tweets about Sprize, 200 fans hit Facebook, more than 45,000 people viewed the flip video on YouTube and 20-plus blogs covered the story.