Gap CEO Revives Brand With Celebrity Campaigns, Heritage Focus

Richard Dickson has turned Gap’s past into a growth strategy. Since taking over as chief executive in August 2023 after a run at Mattel, Dickson has said the turnaround started by revisiting the company’s origin story, when Gap was defined by originality and self-expression rather than basics alone.

That bet has given the 55-year-old retailer new momentum. By March 5, Gap had logged a second straight year of topline growth, eight consecutive quarters of positive comparable sales and fiscal 2025 net sales of $15.4 billion, up 2% from a year earlier. Operating income reached $1.1 billion, with an operating margin of 7.3%. In the first quarter of fiscal 2025, Gap posted net sales of $3.5 billion, also up 2%, and said it had recorded market-share gains for a ninth straight quarter.

Dickson has been explicit about the link he sees between relevance and revenue. At Shoptalk in March 2025, he pointed to Gap’s heritage campaigns featuring Madonna, Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott, and noted that several of those portraits now hang in the company’s Flatiron District store in New York City. “If you’re relevant enough it eventually drives revenue,” he said.

The marketing has followed that script. In February 2024, Gap launched its Spring 2024 Linen Moves campaign with Tyla, who reimagined Jungle’s viral “Back on 74” video. The original clip had surpassed 20 million YouTube views, and Gap planned in-store playlists tied to Tyla and Jungle. The company later leaned into another music-and-dance push with Troye Sivan and Parker Posey, extending a campaign style built less on hard selling than on choreography, personality and nostalgia.

That approach peaked again in August 2025 with Better in Denim, a campaign featuring the global pop group Katseye that drew more than 20 million Instagram views in a few days. The spot won praise for its joyful, multicultural tone and for avoiding the backlash that hit some other denim ads that summer. For Gap, the response suggested that the right mix of celebrity and self-aware nostalgia can still cut through the noise of the TikTok era.

The strategy also has deep company roots. Gap’s celebrity advertising dates back to the 1989 Individuals of Style portraits and continued with 2003’s A New Groove, A New Jean, which paired Madonna and Missy Elliott in one of the company’s biggest ad moments. Dickson has folded that legacy into newer moves, including vintage drops, fashion collaborations and, in January 2026, the creation of a chief entertainment officer role for former Nickelodeon and Paramount executive Pam Kaufman. Gap also said it would open a Los Angeles office on Sunset Boulevard to deepen those entertainment ties.

The retailer is no longer selling only khakis and hoodies. It is trying to make itself feel culturally central again, and for now the sales trend suggests that the old mall brand may have found a new audience.