Gap has made a brilliant marketing move by setting up a casting call contest for the next “Gap Girl.” The last time I heard anyone talking about the Gap, it was the Parowan Gap, a small canyon in southern Utah featuring American Indian rock art.
So I was surprised to see that the Gap, the clothing outlet that hovers somewhere between Old Navy and Banana Republic, was catching big headlines this morning. What’s their strategy? Psychological investment.
They held a contest where parents could send in the photos of their cute kids and a few of them would be picked as the next face of Gap. Camera-addicted parents responded. Once the finalists where announced today, local parents around the country picked up the story. Since the parents were now psychologically invested in the outcome of the contest, Gap ended up with a rabidly interested marketing base.
Local papers makes for great PR. While I was working on my master’s degree at Ohio University, I studied how much people trusted their local newspapers compared to national news outlets. People resoundingly chose their home town paper as the most reliable, even if the paper was just running the same Associated Press story that was in the national publications..
So, when people see “Gap” in their local newspaper, it’s going to have a bigger impact, especially if it features a cute photo of the local finalist.
Another advantage to this sort of local newspaper campaign is that Internet has increased the reach of even the smallest rag. If I search for “gap casting call,” on the Internet, I will come up with stories from small town papers in Tennessee as well as bigger papers, like the Boston Globe.
It helps that Gap is huge and has been doing this promotion for three years in a row. Still, it’s a good thing to keep in mind the next time you’re brainstorming about ways to promote your company. If you get people psychologically invested, they will promote your company for you.