Welcome to Digital Gravity by Orbit Marketing
Welcome back to Digital Gravity 💪
Every Friday, we share strategies to help you generate more leads and reach ‘critical mass’ with your digital marketing.
This week, Catherine makes her Digital Gravity debut with an important lesson on getting inside your audience’s head.
Enjoy 👇
💸 And… I’m sold! 💸
Sometimes, all it takes is a catchy beat. A singable tune.
A melody so sticky you catch yourself humming it 10 years later.
That’s the power of a good ad.
And the final piece that makes it perfect?
When it actually knows its audience… the chef’s kiss on a perfectly cooked meal.
The other day, I was thinking to myself: where have all the great ads gone? Where’s my annual earworm? The musical bop of the foreseeable future?
Well… speak a wish into the void and the algorithm fairy delivers.
A few swipes on TikTok later, Gap dropped into my feed with their new Katseye collab.
Looking into how the ad did, it received 400 million total views and over 8 billion impressions.
In case you wanted some quick pop culture news: Katseye is a global girl group formed through a Hybe x Geffen Records survival show, available on Netflix (Hybe also founded BTS!).
Their whole mission is representation, a group to be built so fans around the world can see themselves reflected onstage.
But what do they have to do with jeans?
Gap has stuck to dancing in their ads for a while now.
It’s part of their identity: show the clothes in motion, show the freedom, let the vibe sell the fit.
And while jumping on trends can help, it can also erase what made a brand special in the first place. This ad does the opposite.
It modernizes a classic Gap formula.
In the ad, the six members from six different countries dance to Milkshake by Kelis.
It’s the perfect blend of their Gen Z fanbase and the nostalgia baked into an early-2000s classic.
Y2K energy, but refreshed.
The tagline “Better in Denim” ties it all together, highlighting the individuality of each member and how their different backgrounds bring the look to life.
So here’s the winning formula they used to capture their target audience:
Catchy music.
A dance anyone can recreate and post to social media themselves. (and you already know they’re going to be sporting jeans when they do)
Representation baked into the casting.
A visual that makes you want to rewatch it every time it pops up.
Plus, watching them dance in those jeans… yeah, they look super duper comfortable.
And it hits the exact range they were aiming for: millennials who grew up on the song, and Gen Z who love the group.
This was the perfect example of meeting your audience where they already are.
They didn’t do anything new.
They just aligned with the moment, added their own angle, and let the people do the rest.
This same rule applies to anyone building their own brand or selling into enterprises.
Don’t fight for attention! Anchor the message to something your audience already cares about and offer something fresh that only you provide.
Now, if you excuse me, I've got some denim to buy.
Update: The jean jacket I wanted sold out. Ad too good. 😔
–Catherine
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