Gap expands AI-led marketing across brands with Google Cloud partnerships

Gap Inc. widened its AI push across its brand portfolio at Cannes Lions in Cannes, France, saying the work will make its shared marketing organization a more scalable, real-time growth engine. The company said the effort will use data, AI and agentic capabilities to improve owned marketing channels, strengthen customer retention and remove silos across its marketing system.

The retailer said it is working with Google Cloud, Zeta Global and Publicis Sapient on the initiative. That follows a multi-year partnership Gap announced with Google Cloud in June 2025 to accelerate its technology strategy across Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta. In March 2026, Gap Chief Technology Officer Sven Gerjets said the company was “leaning in” to AI to elevate online shopping, signaling that the shift had been building for months before the Cannes announcement.

For workers on the store side, the change is less about marketing jargon than about what happens when a campaign lands. AI increasingly shapes which customers see a promotion, how often they see it and what kind of shopping trip they expect when they walk in. That raises the stakes for associates who have to answer questions, locate product and keep the in-store experience aligned with a digital message that may have been personalized long before the shopper reached the door.

That pressure is familiar in discount retail, where Big Lots has spent the past two years in restructuring. Big Lots filed voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 9, 2024, in Delaware under case number 24-11967. One report said the Columbus, Ohio-based chain had $4.7 billion in 2023 revenue, 1,392 stores at the start of 2024 and more than 27,000 employees. In a business that depends on traffic, tight margins and quick turns, a well-targeted campaign means little if the shelf is empty or the store cannot deliver what the ad promised.

That is why inventory visibility sits at the center of the AI conversation, not on the side. Retail TouchPoints has called in-stock visibility a strategic imperative and said AI is helping retailers improve inventory and merchandising management. In practice, that means marketing and operations are becoming harder to separate: a smarter ad strategy now depends on what is actually available in the building, and the store team is the last checkpoint between an algorithm and a customer’s experience.