Apple’s first wearable is heading full-stream down the product pipeline ahead of its early 2015 release, and to aid with the launch of its first fashion accessory, Apple has recruited the talents of Gap Inc’s second top marketing executive.
Marcela Aguilar joins Apple with a deep background in fashion and ad agencies after serving as Gaps senior global director of marketing and communications, and has plenty of global expertise that will come in hand as Apple tries to convince fashion forward women and men to slap an Apple Watch on their wrists.
Aguilar will join Apple as the new director of global marketing communications. She’s been credited by Gap’s CMO Seth Farbman as being an integral part of the team that helped the struggling brand rebound from it’s early 2010’s slump.
In an interview with AdAge, Aguilar’s former boss Seth Farbman had nothing but high praises for her move to Apple.
“Apple is getting a tested professional. Working on a major American brand like Gap means you are on a big stage, in bright lights, every day. That experience is priceless, and Apple demands people who know how to play at a high level. Also, her experience in simply communicating the value of meaningful design and developing ideas that create an emotion — rather than just communicate a product benefit — should serve her well at Apple.”
Gap’s new “Dress Normal” ads which capitalize on the growing normcore trend with a series of TV spots directed by David Fincher, where one of Aguilar’s biggest successes at getting millennial interested in the fashion brand again.
Apple’s hiring of Aguilar adds to the list of high profile executives the company has managed to lure away from fashion brands, fitness companies, and universities alike.
Source: AdAge
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
One response to “Apple snags marketing wiz behind Gap’s ‘Dress Normal’ campaign”
What will Ms. Aguilar do when she learns that Apple won’t offer a a free watch with every watch bought, or institute one fabricated sale season after another, to move product off the shelf?
As far as I can see, the recent “success” of The Gap has more to do with continuous discounting of cheaply made clothing, than creating consumer enthusiasm for the Brand.