Gap Stores Get New Ad Exec

Gap Inc. said Monday that it named advertising executive Jeff Jones head of marketing for its Gap stores, filling a post that has been vacant for more than a year as the company has tried to boost sales at its flagship chain.

Jones, 36, will oversee marketing for Gap, GapKids, BabyGap and GapBody, the San Francisco-based retailer said. Jones joins the company as an executive vice president on April 1 after he leaves his position as chief executive and president of LB Works, a unit of Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett USA.

Gap Chief Executive Paul Pressler has been building his management team and focusing on marketing since joining the company in September 2002. In the last 10 months, he has appointed marketing heads for Gap’s Old Navy and Banana Republic chains. The Gap brand has operated without a marketing head since July 2002 when Peter Hempel left, the company said.

“What Gap is trying to do now is get the word out that Gap is a great place to buy if you want to be fashionably dressed,” said Kurt Barnard, president of Retail Forecasting LLC.

Sales increases at U.S. Gap stores open at least a year have slowed in recent months. In December, U.S. Gap-brand same-store sales were unchanged, compared with gains of 10% at Banana Republic and 2% at Old Navy.

The retailer’s campaigns for the Gap stores last year included one featuring singers Madonna and Missy Elliott. Pressler, who replaced Millard “Mickey” Drexler, has built on his predecessor’s strategy of emphasizing more basic clothing.

Jones is departing Chicago-based LB Works as it is being consolidated into Leo Burnett. LB Works clients include Internet-access provider EarthLink Inc., Kraft Foods Inc.’s Altoids breath mints and appliance maker Maytag Corp. He will report to Gary Muto, president of the Gap brand.

Jones previously worked at Coca-Cola Co. and has helped formulate marketing strategy for a number of large companies, including Procter & Gamble Co. and General Motors Corp., Gap said.

Gap’s marketing appointments last year included Susan Wayne, a former Leo Burnett USA executive vice president, as executive vice president at Old Navy, and Jack Calhoun, who left Charles Schwab Corp. to become executive vice president at Banana Republic.