Gap Inc. Shakes Up Brand Structure

A day after announcing that Marka Hansen was leaving her post as head of brand for North America, Gap Inc. (San Francisco) has appointed Art Peck to lead the North American division. Peck, who was responsible for growing the company’s highly-profitable Outlet business for the past three years, will take on the role of president of Gap North America. During his six years with Gap Inc., Peck has been a primary architect of the company’s franchise business and international growth platform.

In addition, the lifestyle brand announced a series of significant management and organizational changes to drive more consistent results in North America and provide a new creative leadership structure for global growth. “The changes we’re making are intended to propel the brand to deliver the product and brand experiences our customers demand worldwide,” says Glenn Murphy, chairman and ceo, Gap Inc.

Among those changes, Gap has created a new Global Creative Center in New York to serve as “the global epicenter for creativity for Gap brand.”
“This move will allow us to build upon the momentum demonstrated by our successful store openings in China and Italy,” says Murphy.
Pam Wallack, the current president of Gap Adult North America, will lead the new Global Creative Center, working closely with the company’s divisional presidents based in London, Tokyo, Shanghai, and San Francisco.

As part of the move to support the global business, the company also announced that Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide will become the agency for Gap brand globally, and Seth Farbman will become Gap brand’s global chief marketing officer. Farbman is currently worldwide managing director at Ogilvy & Mather, where he developed marketing campaigns for consumer brands such as Coca-Cola, UPS, Unilever and Time Warner Cable. He will report to Wallack.

Also as part of its restructuring, the company is merging the operation of its Outlet division with the Gap and Banana Republic brands, bringing the specialty retail stores and their value expression channels within the same organization. “The Outlet team is known for working in a nimble and decisive manner, which has contributed to its impressive growth,” says Murphy. “We’ll tap into the strongest leaders from both Gap and the Outlet divisions to drive sustainable performance going forward.”