This week Old Navy announced an end to the highly successful SuperModelquins campaign that has been the focal point of the company’s advertising for the last two years.
The Old Navy SuperModelquins will apply for unemployment.
With that, they also announced an exciting music-focused campaign that will link their TV ad content to social media and then to a brand new mobile campaign. The move interestingly reinforces many of the principles we are learning in class. This is a great example of a truly integrated marketing campaign, and illustrates how companies are looking to make the move to mobile.
Old Navy will transition to the new campaign which is called “Old Navy Records,” with what could be described as a marketing short film, a 70 second video available only on Facebook and YouTube. The video, a “leaked audition tape” shows the lifeless mannequins trying out for the music video, and the bottom line is they just can’t cut it.
The campaign will feature original music from “created” bands that will be available for download on the Shazam app. When consumers use the app to obtain the catchy dance tunes, they will access ads, styling tips and deals.
While many brands have had success using cover tunes or reviving familiar music of the past, Old Navy’s new marketing director Amy Curtis-McIntyre says that Old Navy is original and “we design our own clothes, so rather than borrow someone else’s music, let’s create our own.”
The SuperModelquin campaign was clever enough to appeal to the sense of humor of the younger Old Navy shopper and also the Mom of that shopper, albeit in an eye-rolling sort of way. The figures were integrated into each Old Navy store and their fashions changed almost weekly, as the TV ads were updated with the latest trend, style or sale. The campaign was a success and is credited with bringing Old Navy back from the brink of irrelevance.
That said, Curtis-McIntyre says that it was difficult to show the best of their clothing on plastic people, foreshadowing a campaign with lots of physical movement to accompany the music tracks.
As a student of IMC, I think the Old Navy campaign will be an excellent study in branding using new and emerging media forms.
View the full Advertising Age article here.
Read It and Eat 
I think the audition video with the Modelquins is clever. Typically, when a brand switches campaigns, it just picks up and moves on to something new. With successful and well-liked campaigns, however, this abrupt change can lead to a backlash or some questioning of the company’s thinking. In this situation, the audition tape gets across the reason behind this change in a fun way.
The Shazam app is a fantastic tool on its own and the fact that Old Navy is now partnering with them is genius. I’m excited to see how Old Navy weaves together all these different elements of social media and whether or not the public will embrace this new campaign!
I always thought the model-quins campaign was a little creepy, can’t say I’m sorry to see them go! The short film marketing method is one that I hadn’t really noticed being utilized until attention was brought to them, but I think it’s a good one. It’s really no different than product placement in feature films though, so I do think that sometimes brands may need to be a bit ‘cheesier’ in their elivery so consumers really get what they are supposed to be taking away from the film. For example, in many of BMW’s ‘The Hire’ films, yes,teh cars handle the roads well and speed through obstacles, but I found myself wondering at the end of the films how the main characters would end up rather than ‘wow that’s a hell of a car!’ I bet I wouldn’t even be able to name what color or model the BMW in the film was.
I think the new approach is MUCH more suited to Old Navy’s target demographic–I wasn’t a big fan of the modelquins myself, but perhaps I would have liked them if I were 20 years younger (god, writing that makes me cringe–I’m not THAT old). In reading the Ad Age article, however, I’m still technically one of their target customers (“Jennie,” 25-35), which is curious because I feel old when I walk in there and wish they’d turn their damn music down.
But that said, bringing on Joseph Kahn is very smart: among music video directors, he is the go-to guy for pop music (like it or not, he has Britney Spears’ best videos) and he should definitely bring less camp and more cool to Old Navy.